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COMMERCIAL  INFORMATION 


•  CONCERNING  THE 


American  Republics  and  Colonies, 


1  89  1 


f 


Bureau  ok  the  American  Republics, 

Washington,  D.  C,  U.  S.  A. 


Bulletin  No.  41.  April,  1892. 


BANCROFT    LIBRARY 


LIST  OF  PREVIOUS  BULLETINS. 


1.  Hand   Book  of  the  American  Republics,  No.  I. 

2.  Hand  Book  of  the  American  Republics,  No.  2. 

3.  Patent  and  Trade-mark  Laws  of  America. 

4.  Money,  Weights,  and  Measures  of  the  American  Republics. 

5.  Import  Duties  of  Mexico. 

6.  Foreign  Commerce  of  the  American  Republics. 

7.  Hand  Book  of  Brazil. 

8.  Import  Duties  of  Brazil. 

9.  Hand  Book  of  Mexico. 

10.   Import  Duties  of  Cuba  and  Puerto  Rico, 
n.   Import  Duties  of  Costa  Rica. 

12.  Import  Duties  of  Santo  Domingo. 

13.  Commercial  Directory  of  Brazil. 

14.  Commercial  Directory  of  Venezuela. 

15.  Commercial  Directory  of  Colombia. 

16.  Commercial  Directory  of  Peru. 

17.  Commercial  Directory  of  Chile. 

18.  Commercial  Directory  of  Mexico. 

19.  Commercial  Directory  of  Bolivia,  Ecuador,  .Paraguay,  and  Uruguay. 

20.  Import  Duties  of  Nicaragua. 

21.  Import  Duties  of  Mexico. 

22.  Import  Duties  of  Bolivia. 

23.  Import  Duties  of  Salvador. 

24.  Import  Duties  of  Honduras. 

25.  Import  Duties  of  Ecuador. 

26.  Commercial  Directory  of  Argentine  Republic. 

27.  Import  Duties  of  Colombia. 

28.  Commercial  Directory  of  Central  America. 

29.  Commercial  Directory  of  Haiti  and  Santo  Domingo. 

30.  First  Annual  Report,  1S91. 

31.  Hand  Book  of  Costa  Rica. 

32.  Hand  Book  of  Cautcmala. 

33.  Hand  Book  of  Colombia. 

34.  Hand  Book  of  Venezuela. 

35.  Breadstuff's  in  Latin  America. 

36.  Import  Duties  of  Venezuela. 

37.  Import   Duties  of  the   British  Colonies. 

immercial  Directory  «>f  Cuba  and  Puerto  Rico. 
Dm  ctory  "i  European  <  Monies. 
i<>.  Mims  and  Mining  Laws  of  Latin  America. 


WASHINGTON,    D.  C,    U.   S.   A. 
Government  Printing  Office. 


COMMERCIAL  INFORMATION 


CONCERNING   THE 


American  Republics  and  Colonies, 


1891. 


Bureau  of  the  American  Republics, 

Washington,  D.  C,  U.  S.  A. 

Bulletin  No.  41.  April,  1892. 


BUREAU  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLICS. 
NO.  2  LAFAYETTE  SQUARE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C,  U.  S.  A. 


Director. — William  E.  Curtis. 

Secretary. — Henry  L.  Bryan. 

Translators. — Portuguese,  John  C.  Redman. 

Spanish,  Jose  I.  Rodriguez. 
Clerks. — John  T    Suter,  Jr. 

Leonard  G.  Myers. 
Stenographers. — Imogen  A.  Hanna. 
Lucretia  Jackson. 
Distributing  Clerk. — Henrietta  P.   Dunn. 
Librarian. — Tillie  L.  Phillips. 
Copyist. — Rosabelle  S.  Rider. 


While  the  greatest  possible  care  is  taken  to  insure  accuracy  in  the  publications  of  the  Bureau  of  the 
American  Republics,  it  will  assume  no  pecuniary  responsibility  on  account  of  inaccuracies  that  may 
occur  therein. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


Explanatory  Note 4 

Argentine  Republic 5 

Bolivia 25 

Brazil 28 

Chile 36 

Colombia 40 

Costa  Rica 53 

Ecuador 68 

Guatemala 72 

Haiti 75 

Honduras 77 

Mexico 84 

Nicaragua 174 


Paraguay 179 

Peru 185 

Salvador 194 

Uruguay 200 

Venezuela 207 

British  Colonies 211 

Dutch  Colonies 220 

French  Colonies 221 

Spanish  Colonies 222 

General  Commercial  Information.  .  230 

World's  Fair 262 

Index 271 


EXPLANATORY  NOTE. 

During  the  past  year  (1891)  the  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  has  fur- 
nished to  the  press  of  the  United  States,  Mexico,  Central  and  South  America, 
the  West  Indies,  and  Europe,  daily  bulletins  containing  information  concerning 
current  events  in  the  American  Republics  and  Colonies;  their  progress,  and  the 
development  of  their  resources,  their  industries,  and  commerce.  As  much  of 
this  information  is  of  permanent  value  and  interest  to  manufacturers,  merchants, 
historical  students,  and  others,  it  has  been  deemed  expedient  to  publish  selected 
extracts  from  these  daily  bulletins  in  a  classified  form. 
4 


The  Argentine    Republic. 


THE  NEW  CUSTOMS  LAW. 

The  following  is  the  decree  regulating  the  new  customs  law  of 
the  Argentine  Republic : 

LAW    NO.     2772 CUSTOMS    LAW. 

The  President  of  the  Republic  decrees: 

Article  1 .  The  foregoing  law  shall  come  into  force  from  the  date  of  promul- 
gation in  the  custom-house  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  from  1st  of  February  in  the 
other  custom-houses  of  the  Republic. 

Art.  2.  Twenty-four  hours'  grace  are  hereby  given  for  the  payment,  in 
accordance  with  the  former  arrangements,  of  manifests  liquidated  prior  to  the 
promulgation  of  the  new  law,  so  that  such  manifests  may  be  paid,  up  to  4 
o'clock  of  the  day  of  promulgation,  half  in  gold  and  half  in  paper.  On  the 
expiry  of  this  term  no  reclamation  shall  be  attended  to  in  that  respect. 

Art.  3.  A  special  account  shall  be  kept  in  the  custom-houses  of  these  addi- 
tional duties,  as  also  in  the  contaduria-general. 

Art.  4.  The  proceeds  of  said  duties  shall  daily  and  directly  remitted  to  the 
caja  de  conversion  by  the  custom-house  of  Buenos  Ayres,  and  every  fortnight  or 
month  by  the  other  custom-houses  of  the  Republic,  according  to  the  importance 
of  the  sums  to  be  remitted.  These  remittances  shall  be  made,  in  preference,  in 
bills  on  the  national  bank  or  in  money.  The  proceeds  of  the  duties  shall  be 
deposited  in  the  local  branch  of  the  national  bank,  to  the  order  of  the  revenue 
department,  while  awaiting  the  date  fixed  for  the  remittance.  The  caja  de 
conversion  shall  publish  every  month  a  statement  of  the  remittances. 

Art.  5.  In  the  case  of  goods  shipped  prior  to  the  promulgation  of  this  law 
for  minor  custom-houses,  and  which  come  under  the  prohibitions  of  Article  5, 
the  finance  minister  shall  decide  in  which  of  the  custom-houses  said  goods  shall 
be  dispatched,  keeping  in  view  the  interests  and  facilities  of  trade  and  State. 

Art.  6.  The  general  revenue  department  is  hereby  intrusted  with  the  execu- 
tion of  this  decree. 

Art.  7.   Let  this  be  communicated,  etc. 

Pellegrini. 
V.   F.   Lopez. 
5 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


REPORT   ON    FOREIGN  AFFAIRS    FOR  1891. 

The  annual  report  of  Senor  Costa,  Argentine  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  for  1 89 1 ,  says  that  notwithstanding  the  recent  crisis  the  real  in- 
dustries of  the  country  have  never  been  more  prosperous  than  now. 
The  enormous  rise  in  land  prices  has  tended  to  break  up  large 
properties  into  small  holdings,  and  the  immigration  department 
has  vast  areas  of  land  at  the  disposal  of  settlers.  The  area  under 
tillage  in  1891  exceeds  anything  before  known,  and  new  colonies 
have  been  established  in  Santa  Fe,  Entre  Rios,  and  Cordoba.  In 
spite  of  the  crisis,  there  were  110,000  immigrants  in  1890,  and 
34,050  during  the  six  months  ended  June  30,  1891.  These  were 
chiefly  friends  of  people  already  in  the  agricultural  colonies.  The 
immigration  department,  which  cost  the  Government  $1,687,000 
in  1890,  will  not  entail  an  expense  of  more  than  $309,000  this 
year  and  $200,000  in  1892.  The  expenses  of  the  foreign  depart- 
ment have  been  reduced  from  $2,500,000  to  $1,150,000  by  the 
closing  of  the  legations  at  Vienna,  Brussels,  Berne,  Lisbon,  and 
Mexico,  and  by  other  measures  of  economy. 

EXPORTS  OF  CEREALS. 

The  total  value  of  cereals  exported  from  the  Argentine  Republic 
was  $16,429,228  in  1889,  and  $25,825,899  in  1890.  This  in- 
cluded wheat,  corn,  flour,  flax,  linseed  oil,  and  other  cereals.  The 
following  statement  shows  the  increase  of  exports  from  1881   to 


1890: 

Vear. 

Wheat. 

Flour. 

Maize. 

Flax. 

1890 

Kilos. 
326,  185,  736 
I,  165,628 

Kilos. 
13,017,875 
I,  286,  396 

Kilos. 
707,281,955 
25,052,  189 

Kilos. 
30,  720,  636 
6,  304,  618 

I88l 

Total 

3*25,020,  108 

".  731.  479 

682,  220,  766 

24,  326,018 

ARGENTINE    REPUBLIC. 

And  comparing  the  returns  of  1889  and  1890: 


Year. 

Wheat. 

Flour. 

Maize. 

'  Flax. 

1 890 

Kilos. 
326,  185,  736 
22,  806,  373 

Kilos. 
I2,OI7,  875 
3,  360,  876 

Kilos. 
707,  28l,  955 
432,  59O,  679 

Kilos. 
30,  720,  636 

1889              

28,  195,816 

Total 

303,  379.  363 

8,  656,  999 

274,  691,  276 

2,524,  820 

EXPORTS  OF  WOOL  FOR  THE  YEARS  i888-*8g-'90. 

The  following  table  shows  the  exports  of  wool  from  the  Argen- 
tine Republic  for  1888,  1889,  and  1890: 


Antwerp  .... 

Havre 

Dunkirk 

Bremen 

Hamburg.  .  .  . 
Marseilles. . . 
Bordeaux  . . . 

London 

Liverpool  . . . 
Genoa 

Total.. 


1888. 

1889. 

Bales. 

Bales. 

115.598 

130,  932 

27,  432 

15,  6oi 

126,  671 

168,  030 

38,  317 

56,  359 

60,  303 

48,  807 

202 

530 

1,404 

650 

I,  072 

r,  187 

3,423 

5,657 

3,  178 

4,i5i 

377,  590 

431,  9J3 

1890. 


Bales. 
87,821 
18,621 

128,  OO9 

48,  757 

30,  314 

211 

1,994 

9^5 

2,613 

3,  521 


322,  290 


EXPORTS  OF  WOOL. 


The  exports  of  wool  from  the  Argentine  Republic  by  the  port 
of  Buenos  Ayres  for  the  ten  months  ending  October,  1891,  as  com- 
pared with  the  same  period  of  the  previous  year,  are  as  follows  : 


France 

Belgium  .... 

England 

Germany.  .  .  . 

Italy 

United  States 

Spain 

Brazil 

Total.. 


1890. 


1891. 


Bales. 

Bales. ' 

05,  479 

39-  556 

40,  630 

55,  800 

2,645 

5,530 

38,  705 

39,  822 

3,445 

327 

1,  224 

2,373 

46 

302 

98 

122,  572 

144,  7lo 

'i  -    '-• 

8 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


FOREIGN  COMMERCE  FOR  1890. 


The  official  returns  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  Argentine 
Republic  for  the  year  1890  show  a  falling  off  of  $21,031,604  in 
the  imports,  and  $3,440,041  in  the  exports.  The  following  are 
the  exports  and  imports  of  merchandise  and  specie : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

lss«). 

1890. 

1889. 

1890. 

Subject  to  duty 

Free  of  duty 

Dollars. 
129,  258,  139 
35,241,848 
11.749.759 

Dollars. 
96,  613,  925 
45.438,309 

7,072,381 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

89,  926,  859 
28,431,351 

IOO,  350,  745 
5,266,921 

Specie 

Total 

176,249,746 

149,  124,  615 

118,258,  no 

105,617,666 

The  imports  and  exports  by  countries  were  as  follows : 


Great  Britain 

France 

Germany 

Belgium 

United  States 

Italy 

Uruguay  

Spain 

Brazil 

Paraguay 

The  Netherlands.  . . . 
Sweden  and  Norway 

Bolivia 

Portugal 

Chile 

All  other  countries. . 

Total 


Exports  to.  Imports  from. 


Dollars. 
20,  980,  407 
26,  881,  803 
11,680,023 
12,003,075 

6,  066,  063 

3.i94,98i 

7,  104,  004 
2,083,577 

10,009,012 

375,653 

160,  249 

61,  722 

I", 445 

456,  701 

2,  118,938 

2.053,957 


105,  617,  666 


Dollars. 
61,217,504 
20,  377,  204 
12,  209,  328 
IO.983.8lI 

9.  307.  315 
8,661,918 
8,547.065 
4.333.062 

3.  711.843 
1.  799,  476 
174.399 
174.399 
in,  155 
102,  309 

45.  145 
6,  992,  210 


[49.  124.615 


The  principal  exports  from  the  Argentine  Republic  were  wool, 
hi  (lex  wheat  and  other  breadstuffs,  cured  meats,  and  frozen  car- 
casses of  beef  and  mutton.  The  imports  include  all  forms  of 
manutartured  goods. 


ARGENTINE    REPUBLIC. 


FOREIGN  COMMERCE  FOR  THREE  MONTHS  IN  1891 

According  to  official  statistics,  the  importation  and  exportation 
of  the  first  quarter  of  the  year  1891,  as  compared  with  same  period 
of  last  year,  were  as  follows  : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

1890. 

1891. 

1890. 

1891. 

Subject  to  duty 

Dollars. 
30,  548,  302 

9,  923,  733 
2,  487,  903 

Dollars. 
11,623,  824 
7,  560,  564 
573,  893 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 
26,  041,  504 
12,  575,088 
585,918 

Free  of  duty 

Specie   

38,  234,  628 
X  286,  464 

Total 

42,  959,  938 

19,  758,  291 

40,521,092 

39,  202,  510 

FOREIGN  COMMERCE  FOR  SIX  MONTHS  IN  1891. 

The  official  returns  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  Argentine 
Republic  for  the  first  six  months  of  the  year  1891  show  a  very 
large  falling  off  in  both  exports  and  imports.  The  following  is  a 
statement  in  gold: 


Imports  for  six  months. 
Exports  for  six  months 

Total 


1890. 


Dollars. 
74,  IOO,  OOO 
71,  400,  OOO 


145,  500,  OOO 


1891. 


Dollars. 
33,  200,  OOO 
64,  700,  OOO 


97,  900,  OOO 


This  statement  shows  that  the  imports  have  decreased  56  per 
cent  and  the  exports  9  per  cent,  while  the  total  foreign  trade  of 
the  Republic  has  decreased  33  per  cent,  and  illustrates  the  lamen- 
table results  of  the  financial  crisis. 

The  imports  of  cotton  goods  have  fallen  from  $3,200,000  dur- 
ing the  first  six  months  of  1890,  to  $2,400,000  in  the  first  six 
months  of  1891,  woolen  goods  from  $1,350,000  to  $610,000,  and 
boots  and  shoes  from  $260,000  to  $6,000,  which  shows  that  the 


io 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


boots  and  shoes  of  the  people  are  being  made  at  home.  The  im- 
ports of  timber  have  fallen  from  $5,100,000  to  $1,600,000,  and 
agricultural  implements  from  $680,000  to  $260,000.  These 
items  show  the  decline  or  suspension  of  the  development  of  local 
industries. 

The  statistics  of  exports  show  a  total  value  of  $17,100,000  of 
agricultural  products  exported  against  $25,900,000  for  the  first 
six  months  of  1890.  There  was  a  considerable  increase  in  the 
exports  of  wool,  which  was  245,000,000  pounds  during  the  first 
six  months  of  1891  against  216,000,000  for  the  first  six  months 
of  1890,  but  there  was  a  decrease  in  other  items. 

The  total  exports  by  classes  for  the  six  months  were  as  follows : 


1890. 

1891. 

Dollars. 
25,  900,000 
38,  IOO,  OOO 

7,  400,  OOO 

Dollars. 
17,  100,000 
39,  700,  OOO 

7,  900,  OOO 

Total 

71,  400,  OOO 

64,  700,  OOO 

GROWTH  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


The  immigration  department  of  the  Argentine  Republic  has 
issued  a  circular  respecting  agriculture  in  the  Province  of  Santa 
Fe,  comparing  the  area  under  cultivation  in  1884  and  1889.  The 
figures  are  as  follows : 


Wheat 

Maize 

Linseed  .  .  . 
Sundries  .  . . 

Total 


lss4. 


1,  120,000 


1SS«». 


Acres. 

A  cres. 

760,  OOO 

1,320,000 

140,  OOO 

142,000 

85,000 

55,000 

I35.OOO 

76,000 

593.000 


ARGENTINE    REPUBLIC. 


11 


With  regard  to  yield  per  acre,  it  appears  to  have  been  unusually 
abundant.     The  estimated  weight  of  crops  for  1891  is  as  follows: 


Tons. 

Kilograms  per 
acre. 

Wheat 

501,  OOO 
18,  OOO 
15,  OOO 

380 
126 
270 

Maize 

Linseed  

A  comparison  of  the  imports  of  the  Argentine  Republic  for 
1890  with  those  for  1 889  shows  that  the  agricultural  development  of 
the  country  has  been  very  much  retarded  by  the  financial  troubles, 
as  the  number  of  animals  for  breeding  purposes  imported  in  1 890 
numbered  only  2,020,  while  the  number  imported  in  1889  was 
1 1,640.  This  conclusion  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  the  impor- 
tation of  wire  fences  has  fallen  from  39,000  tons  to  10,100  tons. 
The  Argentine  people  imported  4,400,000  gallons  less  of  wine  in 
1890  than  in  1889,  but  there  was  a  corresponding  increase  of  20 
per  cent  in  the  amount  of  beer  imported.  That  shows  that  during 
the  hard  times  people  have  taken  to  cheaper  beverages.  The 
imports  of  iron  and  steel  decreased  from  59,000  tons  in  1889  to 
4,000  tons  in  1890;  the  number  of  plows  from  39,500  to  26,800; 
the  number  of  sewing  machines  from  22,000  to  13,000.  The 
importation  of  lumber  declined  50  per  cent,  which  indicates  a 
great  falling  off  in  the  building,  and  the  importation  of  coal  de- 
clined 20  per  cent.  The  following  table  shows  the  comparative 
exports  of  the  principal  staples  of  the  Argentine  Republic  in  1 889 
and  1890: 


1889. 

1890. 

Wool 

Sheepskins 

Frozen  mutton 

pounds.  . 

do... 

312,  000,  000 

80,  000,  000 

16,500 

28,  200 

450,  000 

24,  000 

18,  500 

3,  500,  000 

260,  000,  OOO 

59,  000,  OOO 

20,  400 

30,700 

710,  000 

326,000 

17,400 

4,  300, 000 

Linseed  

Maize 

Wheat 

Tallow 

Cowhides 

do... 

do... 

do... 

do... 

number.  . 

12 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


THE  CROPS  FOR  1891. 

The  following  estimate  has  been  made  of  the  value  of  the  rural 
products  of  the  Argentine  Republic  in  1891  : 

AGRICULTURAL. 

Wheat $32,  000,  000 

Maize 15,  000,  000 

Alfalfa     22,  500, 000 

Sugar 2,  500,  000 

Wine 2,  000,  000 

Linseed 600,  000 

Sundries 7,  500,  000 

Total $82,  100,  000 

PASTORAL. 

Wool 33,  000,  000 

Meat 10,  500,  000 

Hides 20,  500,  000 

Tallow 4,  ooo,  000 

Sundries 40,  500,  000 

Total $103,  500,  000 

Grand  total $190,  600,  000 


WHEAT  AND  CORN  EXPORTS  FOR  TEN  YEARS. 

The  following  statement  shows  the  amount  of  wheat  and  corn 
exported  from  the  Argentine  Republic  during  the  last  ten  years, 
both  by  quantity  and  value : 


1881 

1882 

1883 

1884 

1885 

1886 

1887 

1888 

1889 

1890 

Average 


Quantity. 

Value  (1 

n  gold). 

Wheat. 

Corn. 
Toms. 

Wheat. 

Corn. 

Tons. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

l6o 

25,  OOO 

II.OOO 

560,  OOO 

I,  7O0 

107,000 

69,  OOO 

2,  210,000 

6l,000 

19,  OOO 

2,  340,  OOO 

370,000 

108,000 

155,000 

4,  340,  OOO 

2,  270,  OOO 

78,  500 

198,  OOO 

3,  160,  OOO 

3,  960,  OOO 

37.9OO 

232,  OOO 

i,  510,  OOO 

4,  640,  OOO 

328,000 

362,  OOO 

9,  510,  OOO 

7,  240,  OOO 

1 79,  OOO 

l62,000 

8,  250,  OOO 

5,440,000 

23,000 

433.000 

i,  600,  OOO 

13,000,000 

328,000 

707,000 

9,  800,  OOO 

14,  150,000 

105. 500 

240.000 

>,  OOO 

5,3So.ooo 

ARGENTINE    REPUBLIC.  1£ 

Advices  received  from  the  Argentine  Republic  show  that  the 
value  of  agricultural  and  pastoral  products  in  that  country  during 
the  year  1 89 1  exceeded  anything  ever  before  known.  The  value 
of  the  agricultural  crop  in  1891  is  estimated  at  $85,000,000,  and 
the  value  of  the  pastoral  products  will  equal  $120,000,000, 
making  a  total  for  this  years'  crop  over  $200,000,000,  which  is 
15  per  cent  greater  than  any  previous  year,  and  equivalent  to  $50 
per  capita  of  the  population  of  the  country.  The  wheat  product 
is  estimated  at  8,000,000  tons,  valued  at  $32,000,000,  the  corn 
crop  at  1,000,000  tons,  valued  at  $15,000,000  and  the  wool  prod- 
uct at  150,000  tons,  valued  at  $36,000,000.  The  value  of  the 
wheat  and  corn  surplus  for  export  is  estimated  at  $27,500,000, 
and  the  value  of  wool,  hides,  and  other  pastoral  products  for  ex- 
port is  estimated  at  $60,000,000.  It  is  believed  that  this  enor- 
mous crop  will  restore  prosperity  to  the  country. 

The  shipment  of  frozen  carcasses  of  mutton  from  the  Argentine 
Republic  to  England  has  increased  very  rapidly  within  the  last 
six  years.  In  1885  the  total  number  of  frozen  carcasses  received 
at  Liverpool  and  other  British  ports  was  190,571,  while  in  1890 
it  was  1,320,944. 

The  attempt  to  ship  horses  from  the  Argentine  Republic  to 
London  has  not  been  profitable.  The  average  cost  of  placing 
well-bred  horses  in  London  was  ^20  sterling  per  animal,  while 
the  average  obtained  at  the  auction  sales  was  only  ^18. 

The  sugar  industry  in  the  Argentine  Republic  now  absorbs 
a  capital  of  between  $50,000,000  and  $60,000,000  and  gives  em- 
ployment to  100,000  people.  Within  a  few  years  it  is  expected 
that  the  yield  will  be  equal  to  the  consumption,  which  is  between 
$60,000,000  and  $70,000,000  annually,  thus  making  the  Republic 
independent  of  Europe  for  its  supply  and  retaining  the  $5,000,000 
or  $6,000,000  which  is  annually  sent  away.  Since  the  refinery 
was  started  it  has  worked  18,000  tons  of  raw  sugar,  yielding  16,000 
tons  of  refined  sugar,  and  of  that  amount  15,000  tons  has  been 


14  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

sold  at  $53.20  a  ton,  the  dividend  distributed  amounting  to  $23,999, 
gold. 

Returns  of  the  commerce  of  the  Argentine  Republic  for  the 
nine  months  ending  September  30,  1891,  show  an  enormous  fall- 
ing off  from  the  imports  during  the  same  period  of  the  previous 
year.  The  average  decrease  is  55  per  cent,  but  the  largest  de- 
crease is  found  in  luxuries  and  wearing  apparel.  The  fall  in 
wines  and  liquors  is  more  than  75  per  cent.  The  customs  duties 
collected  during  the  first  nine  months  of  1889  were  30  per  cent 
less  than  those  collected  during  the  corresponding  period  of  the 
previous  year,  although  there  had  been  an  increase  in  the  tariff  on 
many  articles. 

In  the  Argentine  Republic  land  is  dealt  in  by  the  league. 
What,  then,  is  a  league?  The  square  league  is  equal  to  2,700 
hectares,  or  6,669  acres-  Nevertheless,  according  to  a  Buenos  Ayres 
paper  the  equivalents  of  a  league  of  land  vary  in  the  provinces  as 
follows : 

Hectares. 

Buenos  Ayres 2,  700 

Santa  F6 2,  700 

Cordoba 2,  710 

Mendoza 2,  517 

Tucuman 2,  663 

Salta 2,  669 

Santiago  del  Estero 1,  880 

San  Luis 2,  798 

San  Juan 2,  517 

Jujuv 2,  515 

Rioja 2,  553 

Catamarca 2,517 

National  territories 2,  500 

1  hectare  =  2. 47  acres. 


ARGENTINE    REPUBLIC. 


'5 


RAILROADS. 


The  following  is  a  synopsis  of  the  report  of  the  railroads  in 
Argentine  Republic  for  the  year  1890,  and  shows  the  comparison 
of  the  miles  in  operation  in  1889  and  1890: 


Buenos  Ayres  and  Rosario. 

Central  Argentine 

Argentine  Great  Western  . . 

East  Argentine 

Central  Northern 

Buenos  Ayres  Western 

Pacific 

Andine 

Entre  Rios. .  .    

Buenos  Ayres  Northern.  .  .  . 

Ensenada 

Great  Southern 

Santa  Fe  Western 

Santa  Fe  Colonies 

Northwestern  Argentine  .  . . 

Chubut 

Chumbicha 

Cordoba  Central 

Northeastern  Argentine 


Total. 


1889. 


5,027 


1890. 


343 

738 

273 

432 

318 

3i8 

99 

99 

688 

688 

750 

634 

425 

425 

157 

157 

184 

184 

18 

66 

66 

838 

838 

130 

130 

432 

506 

93 

112 

43 

43 

40 

40 

130 

130 

170 

5,710 


At  the  end  of  the  year  there  were  in  the  course  of  construction 
1,364  miles,  making  a  total  mileage  of  7,070.  The  capital  in- 
vested amounted  to  $234,000,000;  the  receipts  in  1889  were 
$17,957,388;  in  1890,  $16,935,420.  Owing  to  the  financial 
crisis  there  was  a  falling  off  both  in  the  amount  of  freight  trans- 
ported and  in  the  number  of  passengers  carried. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  is  informed  that  the  Argen- 
tine Government  has  issued  a  decree  creating  a  board  of  railway 
commissioners  similar  to  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  in 
the  United  States.  This  commission  has  supervision  of  all  the 
relations  between  the  Government  and  the  railways  of  the  Repub- 
lic, and  so  far  as  possible  of  provincial  lines  also,  and  is  authorized 


i6 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


to  report  to  Congress  legislation  necessary  to  secure  the  most  sat- 
isfactory regulation  of  the  railway  service. 

The  Buenos  Ayres  and  Great  Southern  Railway  Company  is 
rapidly  pushing  the  construction  of  its  extended  line  from  Bahia 
Blanca  to  Carmen,  on  the  Rio  Negro,  which,  when  completed,  will 
make  a  continuous  line  of  railway  for  more  than  400  miles  south 
from  Buenos  Ayres.  The  Rio  Negro  is  navigable  from  the  sea 
for  light-draft  steamers  for  more  than  350  miles,  and  it  is  proposed 
to  establish  a  line  of  steamers  to  run  in  connection  with  the  railway. 
The  valley  of  the  Rio  Negro  is  said  to  be  very  fertile  and  capable 
of  producing  everything  which  can  be  grown  in  the  temperate  zone, 
while  the  country  back  from  the  river,  both  north  and  south  and  to- 
ward the  base  of  the  Andes,  contains  immense  tracts  of  grazing  land, 
which  are  being  rapidly  acquired  by  capitalists,  who  are  establish- 
ing cattle,  sheep,  and  horse  ranches.  Another  railway  is  being  sur- 
veyed south  from  the  Rio  Negro,  via  Port  Madryn,  in  the  Chubut 
Colony,  to  Santa  Cruz,  within  150  miles  of  the  entrance  to  the 
Straits  of  Magellan.  Already  a  short  line  of  railway  is  in  opera- 
tion in  Chubut,  and,  with  the  construction  of  the  proposed  line, 
uninterrupted  communication  will  be  had  from  Buenos  Ayres  to 
the  south  of  what  was  once  known  as  Patagonia,  opening  to  im- 
migration and  settlement  a  vast  area  of  rich  agricultural  and  pasture 
lands.  The  mineral  phosphates,  nitrates,  and  guano  deposits  which 
have  been  discovered  in  the  provinces  of  Santa  Cruz,  added  to  the 
gold  findings  at  Virgin  Point,  on  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  are  at- 
tracting the  attention  of  investors,  and,  at  no  distant  day,  a  railway 
line  is  assured  quite  to  the  southernmost  point  of  the  continent. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  has  received  informa- 
tion of  the  completion  of  the  narrow-gaup'  railway  from  Cordoba 
to  Rosario,  in  the  Argentine  Republic.  This  is  a  branch  line, 
which  completes  the  connection  of  the  narrow-piuge  system  of 
that  country.  There  are  in  operation  at  present  over  2,  >oo  miles  of 
this  class  of  railroad,  divided  into  thirteen  branches  and  extensions. 


ARGENTINE    REPUBLIC.  17 

The  roads  are  well  built,  having  ties  of  steel  and  a  number  of 
extensive  bridges,  and  they  are  also  so  arranged  if  it  should  be 
necessary  the  system  could  be  changed  in  a  very  short  time  to  the 
standard  gauge. 

An  official  report  of  the  condition  of  railroads  in  the  Argentine 
province  of  Santa  Fe  has  been  received.  In  1888  there  were  360 
miles  in  operation  in  the  province.  This  number  had  increased 
in  1889  to  418  and  in  1890  to  508,  while  193  miles  was  in  process 
of  construction.  A  direct  line  is  building  from  Santa  Fe  to  Ro- 
sario,  which  will  probably  be  open  to  traffic  before  the  end  of  the 
year.  The  returns  in  1889  amounted  to  $902,222  and  the  ex- 
penses to  $1,027,856  as  compared  with  returns  of  $2,034,772  in 
1890  and  expenses  of  $1,602,958.  The  rates  in  1890  were  the 
same  as  in  1889,  but  since  April,  1891,  the  depreciation  of  the 
paper  dollar  has  compelled  an  increase  of  1 10  per  cent  in  rates. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  is  informed  that  a  new  en- 
terprise has  been  developed  in  the  Argentine  Republic.  The  re- 
frigerator ships  which  were  constructed  for  the  dressed-beef  trade 
between  Buenos  Ayres  and  Europe  are  being  utilized  for  the  trans- 
portation of  frozen  fish.  The  "pejery  "  of  the  fresh-water  streams 
and  lagoons  of  the  Argentine  Republic  is  a  fish  of  delicious  flavor, 
and  when  frozen  solid  at  once  after  being  caught  can  be  preserved 
for  any  length  of  time.  The  export  and  sale  of  those  fish  has  been 
very  successful  and  satisfactory. 

Official  returns  just  issued  by  the  Argentine  Government  show 
that  there  were  5,7 10  miles  of  railway  in  operation  in  that  republic 
during  the  year  1891,  which  is  an  increase  of  700  miles  over  the 
total  mileage  under  operation  during  the  year  1889.  The  net 
profits  on  the  operation  of  this  system  were  one  and  seven-tenths 
per  cent,  against  two  and  nine-tenths  per  cent  during  the  previous 
year.  The  Government  guaranties  on  railway  capital  paid  last 
year  were  $3,100,000,  against  $2,200,000  the  previous  year. 
Bull.  41 — -2 


l8  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

THE  ARGENTINE  SCHOOL  SYSTEM. 

[Bishop  Walden  in  Harper's  Magazine  for  May.] 

The  Argentine  school  system  is  imbedded  in  the  national  con- 
stitution, which  provides  that  Congress  shall  have  power  to 
decree  plans  for  general  and  university  education,  and  requires 
that  the  constitution  of  each  province  shall  provide  for  primary 
education.  In  harmony  with  this  organic  law  the  several  prov- 
inces have  made  some  provision  for  common  or  primary  schools. 
Congress  has  found  some  legislation  necessary,  and  also  makes 
some  appropriations  where  the  provincial  fund  is  insufficient  for 
the  primary  schools.  Some  municipalities  are  charged  with  the 
maintenance  and  supervision  of  primary  schools.  The  grade  of 
these  public  schools  depends  upon  their  locality,  those  in  which 
the  most  branches  are  taught  and  which  are  supplied  with  the 
most  efficient  teachers  being  in  the  most  advanced  provinces,  and 
generally  in  the  cities.  The  presence  of  normal  schools  and  col- 
leges in  the  provincial  capitals  stimulates  the  interest  of  the  citi- 
zens in  their  common  schools.  The  number  of  pupils  in  attend- 
ance throughout  the  republic  in  1864  has  been  placed  at  39,000; 
the  number  reported  for  1888  was  175,239. 

The  number  of  these  public  schools,  called  fiscal  where  sup- 
ported by  public  funds,  increased  from  1,515  in  1884  to  2,263  *n 
1888.  Of  the  latter,  34  were  schools  of  application,  in  which  the 
pupils  must  pass  in  the  common  branches,  and,  in  addition,  study 
French,  geometry,  civil  government,  and  some  of  the  natural 
sciences;  and  the  girls  are  also  taught  sewing,  embroidery,  and 
domestic  economy;  12,915  pupils  were  in  these  schools  in  1888. 
Under  the  general  classification  of  public  schools  in  1884,  there 
were  reported  the  1,515  fiscal  schools,  41  connected  with  charitable 
institutions,  32  maintained  by  religious  orders,  and  364  private 
schools — in  all  2,094 — w't^1  an  attendance  of  104,139  in  the  fiscal 
schools,  and  41,521    in   the  others — total   number.    145,660:     Of 


ARGENTINE    REPUBLIC.  ig 

these,  70,187  were  males,  and  68,473  females.  The  increase  of 
attendance  in  the  fiscal  schools  from  1884  to  1888  was  71,000. 
There  are  private  schools  more  or  less  closely  connected  with  the 
Protestant  churches,  and  the  Methodist  mission  maintains  a  school 
at  each  mission  station.  The  school  age  for  the  fiscal  schools  is 
from  6  to  14,  inclusive.  Basing  an  estimate  on  the  enumeration 
of  1884,  the  present  school  population  approximates  600,000, 
and  the  attendance  less  than  40  per  cent  of  this  population. 

In  1871,  after  Dr.  Sarmiento's  return  from  the  United  States, 
he  secured  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  normal  schools,  the 
declared  purpose  of  which  is  to  give  practical  instruction  in  teach- 
ing. The  first  normal  school  was  opened  at  Parana,  the  capital 
of  Entre  Rios,  in  1871.  There  are  now  two — one  for  boys  and 
one  for  girls — in  each  of  the  fourteen  provincial  capitals,  except 
Cordova,  which  has  three;  and  in  addition  to  these  there  are  five 
in  Buenos  Ayres,  the  national  capital — in  all  thirty-four.  Dr. 
Sarmiento  was  also  instrumental  in  introducing  into  these  schools 
teachers  from  the  United  States.  At  the  present  time  about  forty 
American  ladies  are  employed  in  them,  receiving  a  liberal  com- 
pensation, and  commanding  high  respect.  The  schools  of  appli- 
cation are  so  few  that  much  of  the  work  prescribed  for  them  is 
really  done  in  the  normal  schools.  This  course  must  be  studied 
before  passing  to  the  normal  department,  in  which  there  are  three 
years'  training  with  specific  reference  to  teaching — professional 
training.     Those  who  receive  public  aid  must  teach  three  years. 

The  normal  schools,  in  support  and  administration,  are  national 
institutions,  but  they  are  entirely  distinct  from  the  national  col- 
leges. Of  these  there  are  fifteen;  one  in  each  of  the  provinces, 
in  most  instances  at  the  capital,  and  one  at  Buenos  Ayres.  As 
the  name  imports,  these  also  belong  to  and  are  maintained  by  the 
general  government.  Such  students  as  desire  it  may  be  accom- 
modated with  rooms  and  boarding  in  the  college  buildings.  These 
buildings  are  fine  structures,  in  harmony  with  the  public  pride  in 


20  COMMERCIAL    INFORAMTION. 

the  educational  enterprises  of  the  state.  In  the  provision  for 
classes,  the  fifteen  buirdings  will  accommodate  about  1 2,000  schol- 
ars. There  is  a  six  years'  course  of  study,  embracing  history, 
geography,  elementary  and  higher  mathematics,  chemistry,  phys- 
ics, natural  history,  political  economy,  ancient  and  modern  lan- 
guages, literature,  music,  drawing,  bookkeeping,  etc.  The  aggre- 
gate attendance  is  about  2,000,  and  one-fifth  of  these  attend  in 
Buenos  Ayres.  Only  a  few,  comparatively,  have  completed  the 
course  of  study;  the  large  proportion  study  two  or  three  years, 
and  then  engage  in  other  pursuits. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Recent  returns  from  the  Argentine  Republic  show  much  more 
encouraging  conditions  for  the  future  of  that  country.  Until 
August  last  more  people  were  leaving  the  country  than  were  arriv- 
ing; but  in  September  the  tide  turned  and  immigrants  have  again 
begun  to  arrive  in  large  numbers  at  the  several  ports  of  the  Re- 
public and  taken  up  lands  in  the  interior  of  the  country. 

According  to  the  recent  census  there  are  3,546,000  inhabitants 
in  the  Argentine  Republic  and  the  population  of  the  city  of 
Buenos  Ayres  is  549,434. 

A  statistical  summary  of  the  Argentine  Republic  since  1861 
shows  that  in  thirty  years  the  population  has  increased  from 
1,350,000  to  4,000,000;  and  the  number  of  acres  in  cultivation 
from  480,000  to  7,000,000.  In  1861  the  only  railroad  in  existence 
was  from  Buenos  Ayres  to  Merlo,  a  distance  of  18  miles,  Now 
there  are  over  5,000  miles  of  railroad  opened  to  traffic  and  6,000 
more  in  course  of  construction.  Commerce  and  national  wealth 
have  multiplied  five  times  over  within  the  same  period,  but  the 
public  debt  has  increased  in  much  greater  proportion.  It  was 
$17,000,000  in  1861 ;  in  1890  it  was  $401,000,000,  exclusive  of 
cedulas  and  the  paper  currency,  which  would  raise  it  to  a 
total  of  $613,000,000. 


ARGENTINE    REPUBLIC.  21 

Mail  advices  bring  information  of  the  discovery  of  a  vast  bed  of 
silver  in  the  bottom  of  the  Bay  of  San  Bias,  Argentine  Republic. 
The  silver  appears  in  the  black  metallic  sand  which  covers  the 
bottom  of  the  bay.  This  sand  is  full  of  silver  pellets  and  divers 
have  brought  up  a  sufficient  quantity  to  justify  the  belief,  as  stated 
by  the  Buenos  Ayres  Standard,  that  "the  silver  deposit  in  the 
bottom  of  the  bay  is  greater  than  in  the  famous  Bonanza  mines 
of  California." 

An  important  deposit  of  that  rare  metal  known  as  vanadium 
has  been  found  in  the  province  of  Mendoza,  Argentine  Republic. 
This  metal  is  one  of  the  rarest  and  most  valuable  known,  and  is 
used  for  setting  dyes  in  silks,  ribbons,  hosiery,  and  other  fine  goods. 
The  principal  source  of  supply,  until  recently,  has  been  a  small 
deposit  in  the  Ural  Mountains,  and  it  has  been  held  as  high  as 
$1,500  per  ounce.  This  newly  discovered  deposit  in  Mendoza 
will  therefore  be  recognized  as  of  great  importance. 

A  syndicate  of  British  capitalists  have  made  an  application  to 
the  Government  of  the  Argentine  Republic  for  the  privilege  of 
exploring  the  Patagonian  coast  for  minerals. 

A  mine  of  coal  of  very  fair  quality  for  steaming  purposes  has 
been  found  by  accident  in  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  Signor  Fos- 
setti,  the  captain  of  an  Italian  steamer,  was  compelled  to  anchor  in 
Shagnet  Bay  to  make  some  repairs,  and  while  there  he  discovered 
coal  very  near  the  surface.  Reaching  Valparaiso  he  sent  a  corps 
of  experts  to  the  scene  of  the  discovery  in  a  steam  launch,  who 
found  that  the  coal  was  not  only  abundant,  but  of  excellent  quality. 
The  importance  of  the  discovery  to  the  commerce  of  the  world  can 
only  be  appreciated  when  it  is  considered  that  all  steamers  passing 
through  the  Straits  of  Magellan  are  required  to  coal  there  and  that 
the  supply  has  heretofore  been  brought  from  Cardiff,  Wales. 

The  outlook  for  the  recently  discovered  coal  mines  in  the  Ar- 
gentine Republic  is  so  favorable  that  the  railway  companies  of 
that  country  have  declined  to  renew'their  contracts  with  the  British 


22  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

miners  for  fuel.  Hitherto  all  the  coal  burned  on  the  Argentine 
railroads  has  been  imported,  but  it  is  believed  that  the  newly  dis- 
covered mines  will  furnish  a  supply  entirely  sufficient  for  domestic 
consumption. 

In  1870  the  Argentine  Republic  passed  a  law  permitting  the 
National  Government  to  pay  a  reward  of  $25,000  for  the  discov- 
ery of  paying  coal  field.  Though  many  efforts  have  been  made 
to  earn  this  prize  none  have  approached  success  until  recently. 
It  is  now  asserted  that  a  coal  bed  meeting  the  requirements  has 
been  discovered,  but  further  boring  operations  are  necessary  to 
fully  verify  the  statement.  All  the  coal  used  in  the  Republic  has 
to  be  imported.     The  imports  in  1889  amounted  to  658,000  tons. 

Natural  gas  has  been  discovered  in  the  Argentine  Republic, 
where  Dr.  Arata,  a  local  chemist  of  good  reputation,  has  by  anal- 
ysis found  it  to  be  quite  as  rich  in  heating  and  lighting  power  as 
that  found  in  the  United  States.  As  the  lack  of  fuel  for  manu- 
facturing purposes  has  been  one  of  the  greatest  drawbacks  in  the 
Argentine  Republic,  this  is  considered  of  the  very  greatest  im- 
portance. 

A  gentleman  named  Aquiles  Thour  left  Buenos  Ayres  on  the 
first  of  October  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  horseback  journey 
to  Paris  by  way  of  Bolivia,  Peru,  Colombia,  Central  America, 
Mexico,  the  United  States,  Canada,  Alaska,  Russia,  and  Ger- 
many.    He  expects  to  be  until  January,  1894,  on  his  journey. 

The  Buenos  Ayres  papers  report  that  the  recent  purchase  by 
Baron  Hirsch  of  3,001  square  leagues  of  land  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  Argentine  Republic,  for  260,000  sovereigns,  makes  him  the 
possessor  of  a  territory  larger  than  is  owned  by  any  other  man, 
and  it  exceeds  in  area  the  kingdom  of  Montenegro. 

The  Argentine  Government  has  sold  a  tract  of  land  in  the  Grand 
Chaco — the  northern  part  of  the  Republic — to  Baron  Hirsch  tor 
the  establishment  of  a  Jewish  settlement.  One  million  dollars  in 
gold  has  been  paid  tor  1.000  square  miles  of  territory. 


AREENTINE    REPUBLIC.  23 

The  work  of  installing  the  Jewish  emigrants,  sent  to  the  Ar- 
gentine Republic  by  the  munificence  of  Baron  Hirsch,  is  being 
actively  carried  on.  A  branch  railway  has  been  constructed  from 
the  main  line  to  what  is  known  as  the  Mauricio  Colony,  in  which 
the  Hebrews  are  being  established,  and  two  hundred  families  are 
now  already  comfortably  settled  and  engaged  in  the  cultivation 
of  the  soil.  One  thousand  additional  families  were  reported  to  be 
on  their  way  from  Europe,  in  December,  1891  ;  and  it  is  proposed 
to  bring  them  hereafter  at  the  rate  of  one  thousand  families  per 
month. 

The  annual  report  of  Governor  Kerr,  of  the  Falkland  Islands, 
which  lie  off  the  coast  of  Patagonia,  shows  a  singular  state  of  things. 
There  was  not  a  single  case,  either  civil  or  criminal,  in  the  courts 
of  the  colony  during  the  year  1889.  All  the  courts  have  been 
practically  closed  since  1887. 

The  settlement  of  the  archipelago  of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  which 
until  recently  was  considered  a  barren  and  useless  territory,  is  so 
rapid  and  has  progressed  so  far  as  to  require  telegraphic  facilities 
between  the  islands  and  the  continent.  The  commander  of  the 
Argentine  man-of-war  Ushuaia  has  been  directed  to  lay  a  cable 
between  Cape  Virgin  and  Espiritu  Santo,  which  are  22  miles  apart. 
This  is  one  of  the  widest  channels  in  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  but 
it  is  considered  the  safest  and  most  convenient  for  cable  communi- 
cation. 

The  President  of  the  Argentine  Republic  has  appointed  Julio 
Victorica  and  Carlos  Lix-Klett  as  commissioners  to  collect  and 
arrange  an  exhibit  for  the  Argentine  Republic  for  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition  in  1893,  and  has  issued  a  decree  placing 
at  their  disposal  the  $100,000  appropriated  by  Congress  for  that 
purpose.  Senor  Victorica  is  connected  with  the  agricultural  de- 
partment of  the  Government,  and  has  a  wide  knowledge  of  the 
resources  of  the  country.  Senor  Lix-Klett  was  the  commissioner 
from  the  Argentine  Republic  to  the  Paris  Exposition,  and  has  had 


H 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


a  great  deal  of  experience.     The  appointment  of  these  men  guar- 
antees a  splendid  exhibit  from  that  country. 

The  following  table  shows  the  number  and  tonnage  of  the 
steamers  entering  the  harbors  of  the  Argentine  Republic  during 
]  890,  and  the  nations  under  whose  flag  they  sailed : 


British 

German  . . . 

French  

American  . 
Spanish  . . . 

Italian 

Norwegian. 

Dutch 

Russian  . . . 
Swedish  . . . 
Danish 
Austrian  .  . 
Japanese . . 
Belgian. .  . . 
Brazilian  . . 

Greek 

Portuguese 

Total .  . 


Number 
of  steam- 
ships. 


5,302 
689 

471 
419 
350 
300 

371 
164 
230 

403 
197 
III 

158 

55 

129 

68 


4i 


9.638 


Tonnage. 


Gross. 


8,  043, 
930, 
805, 
533, 
432, 
294, 
245, 
220, 

177, 

172, 

154. 

I49» 

123, 

98, 

75. 

7o, 

49. 


872 
754 
983 
333 
627 
705 
052 
014 
752 
613 
497 
447 
279 
056 
970 
435 
364 


12,  825,  709 


Net. 


106,  581 

656,  182 

656,  182 

375.950 

273,919 

185, 796 

176,419 

149,  355 

116,  742 

126,  642 

103,  578 

96,  503 

76,412 

71,658 

48,  901 

44.  424 

29,  554 


8,  286,  647 


Boli 


lvia. 


INTERNAL  TRANSPORTATION    FACILITIES. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  internal  transportation  in  Bolivia  the 
Government  of  the  Republic  is  taking  active  steps  to  secure  the 
construction  of  wagon  roads  and  railways,  both  by  means  of  con- 
cessions to  private  parties  and  through  the  agency  of  the  national 
engineers. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  has  received  interesting 
accounts  of  the  opening  of  an  important  road  from  Cochabamba 
to  Sucre.  The  public  functionaries  of  Sucre  and  a  vast  crowd 
from  the  neighboring  country  marched  in  procession  to  the  Arch 
of  San  Roque,  where  the  ceremonies  of  the  formal  inauguration 
took  place  amid  showers  of  flowers  from  the  ladies  assembled 
and  other  manifestations  of  rejoicing.  Other  roads  are  in  active 
course  of  construction  from  Sucre  to'  Potosi,  from  Cochabamba 
to  Santa  Cruz,  from  Tarifa  to  the  interior,  from  Oruro  to  the 
Argentine  provinces,  passing  through  Tolapalca,  Culta,  Ayoma, 
and  Mancha.  The  Government  has  granted  aid  to  roads  from 
Cochabamba  to  Beni  River,  to  San  Ignacio,  and  to  Chimore 
River.  The  railroad  between  La  Pa'z  and  Uyuni  is  rapidly  ap- 
proaching completion,  and  is  expected  to  be  open  for  traffic  by 
the  beginning  of  the  year. 

A  number  of  proposals  for  the  construction  of  railway  lines 
have  received  the  consideration  of  the  Executive.  Among  these 
are  one  from  Gen.  T.  O.  Osborn,  from  Sucre  to  the  Paraguay 
frontier;  one  by  John  Firth, from  Oruro,  La  Paz,  to  the  Peruvian 

25 


26  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

line,  connecting  with  the  line  from  Arica  and  Tacna ;  one  by- 
Santiago  Secombe,  from  Aruro  to  Cochabamba,  with  extension 
to  Colquechaca;  one  by  Agosto  Stumpp,  from  Sucre  to  Huaicho. 
A  concession  has  been  granted  to  a  London  firm  for  a  line  from 
Pacheco,  on  the  Paraguay  River,  to  the  city  of  Santa  Cruz.  The 
Department  of  La  Paz  has  united  with  Peruvian  authorities  in  the 
projection  of  a  road  to  La  Paz,  which  will  connect  with  the  line 
from  Mallendo  to  Puno,  by  the  way  of  the  Desaguadero. 

Mr.  John  Hurd  has  applied  for  the  right  of  navigating  the 
branches  of  the  Madera,  and  also  to  build  railroads,  completing 
those  from  Santa  Cruz  to  Rio  Grande,  from  Cochabamba  to  Rio 
Chimore,  and  from  La  Paz  to  Rio  Beni. 

The  Government  of  Bolivia  has  granted  to  Fernando  Cordena, 
an  Argentine  engineer,  a  very  important  concession  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  railway  from  Oruro  to  the  head  of  navigation  on 
the  Amazon  River,  in  the  heart  of  the  rubber  region  of  Bolivia. 
The  construction  of  this  road  will  connect  the  mineral  regions  of 
Bolivia  with  the  Atlantic,  and  thus  give  cheap  transportation  to 
Europe.  The  Government  has  guaranteed  Senor  Cordena  6  per 
cent  interest  annually  for  twenty  years  on  the  capital  invested;  has 
given  him  9  miles  on  each  side  of  the  proposed  line  from  which 
to  take  materials  for  construction  purposes,  and,  in  addition,  has 
granted  him  100  square  leagues  of  land,  to  be  taken  at  intervals 
from  the  territory  adjacent  to  the  road. 

A  concession  has  been  granted  by  the  Bolivian  Government  to 
Lord  Donoughmore,  of  London,  and  Michael  P.  Grace>  of  New 
York,  for  the  construction*  of  a  railway  from  La  Paz  to  Lake 
Titicaca,  the  line  to  be  finished  within  three  years.  This  road  is 
practically  an  extension  of  the  line  of  railway  which  runs  from 
MoUendo,  a  port  on  the  coast  of  Peru,  to  Lake  Titicaca. 

The  scientific  exploration  of  the  Desaguadero  River  in  Bolivia 
and  Peru  has  been  completed  over  85  leagues,  or  2^0  miles,  and 
it  is  expected  that  steam  communication  will  be  established  at  once 


BOLIVIA.  27 

by  the  Government  of  Bolivia  as  far  up  the  river  as  Corocoro,  from 
which  a  railroad  will  be  built  to  La  Paz,  the  capital.  This  will 
afford  Bolivia  a  direct  outlet  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean  by  way  of  the 
Amazon  River,  upon  the  construction  of  60  miles  of  railroad, 
which  will  naturally  contribute  to  the  development  of  the  coun- 
try's natural  resources. 

Lieut.  W.  E.  Safford,  commissioner  of  the  World  s  Fair,  to  the 
Republic  of  Bolivia,  reports  that  the  Congress  of  that  country  has 
authorized  the  President  to  appoint  a  commission  to  take  charge 
of  its  representation  at  Chicago,  and  that  the  expense  will  be  paid 
from  what  is  known  as  "  Misiones  extraordinarias,"  a  permanent 
fund  for  paying  the  expenses  of  diplomatic  intercourse. 


Brazil, 


CONSULAR  INVOICES. 

The  Brazilian  Government,  by  a  decree  which  taking  effect 
on  the  1st  of  January,  1892,  includes  consular  invoices  among  the 
documents  required  to  effect  a  clearance  at  Brazilian  custom- 
houses. The  decree  quotes  the  resolution  adopted  by  the  Interna- 
tional American  Conference  held  at  Washington,  recommending 
this  course,  and  expresses  the  opinion  that  the  general  adoption  of 
this  plan  will  be  of  value  to  the  public  and  also  an  aid  to  com- 
merce and  a  check  upon  improper  and  fraudulent  declarations  in 
the  manifests. 

The  Brazilian  Minister  of  Finance  has  informed  the  consular 
representatives  of  the  Republic  of  the  suspension,  until  May  1, 
1 892,  of  the  recent  decree  regarding  consular  invoices  on  all  goods 
shipped  to  that  country.  Bills  of  lading  only  need  be  legalized 
by  the  consuls  until  that  date. 

BONDED  WAREHOUSES. 

The  custom-house  inspector  has  issued  the  following  regula- 
tions : 

The  inspector  of  the  custom-house,  by  virtue  of  the  authorization  which  was 
granted  him  by  the  aviso  of  the  department  of  finance  on  June  17,  1879,  has 
decided  that  for  the  definite  clearance  of  merchandise  discharged  into  bonded 
warehouses  the  following  instructions  shall  hereafter  be  observed : 

(1)  The  agents  of  steamship  companies  or  captains  of  vessels,  the  owners 
or  consignees  of  merchandise  destined  to  be  deposited,  must  present,  together 
with  the  application  wherein  they  ask  permission  for  depositing,  two  similar 
(original   and    duplicate)    lists,  made   out    in   accordance  with    the  prescribed 


BRAZIL.  29 

form,  in  which  are  to  be  described,  without  amendments  or  erasures,  the  pack- 
ages, number,  description,  and  quantity,  together  with  the  quality  of  the  con- 
tained merchandise,  the  name  of  the  vessel  bringing  it,  and  the  date  of  entry. 

(2)  The  said  application  and  annexed  list  will  be  presented  to  the  man- 
ifest clerk  for  the  verification  as  to  the  agreement  between  the  declarations  in  such 
documents  with  those  that  appear  on  the  manifest. 

(3)  The  deposit  granted,  the  lists  will  be  dated  and  signed  by  the  depositor, 
presented  to  the  employe  of  the  first  section  charged  with  this  service,  who  will 
place  in  the  proper  space  the  number  of  the  order  which  belongs  to  it,  in  the 
scale  of  deposits  for  the  warehouse  referred  to,  and,  after  '  the  initialing  by  the 
chief  of  the  section,  it  will  serve  as  the  original  deposit  bond,  while  the  duplicate 
will  be  at  once  sent  to  the  respective  warehouse,  in  substitution  of  the  guia 
referred  to  in  article  237  of  the  consolidated  custom-house  laws. 

(4)  The  bonds  {termos)  thus  prepared  will  replace  for  all  legal  effects  the 
special  book  to  which  article  238  of  the  consolidated  laws  refer,  for  which  end 
they  will  be  filed  in  the  first  section  and  bound  by  years  or  half  years,  numbered, 
initialed  separately  for  each  warehouse. 

(5)  The  owner  or  consignee  of  merchandise  deposited  who  intends  to  clear 
it  for  consumption  will  present  the  papers  duly  prepared  at  the  warehouse, 
or  store,  for  the  specification  of  the  discharge  and  receipt  of  the  said  merchan- 
dise, the  ordinary  forms  for  the  clearance  of  goods  discharged  into  the  custom- 
house stores  to  be  afterwards  observed. 

(6)  The  order  for  delivery  to  which  article  249  of  the  consolidated  laws  refers 
will  be  substituted  by  an  application  signed  by  the  conferente  of  the  clearance 
who  is  to  order  the  delivery,  the  said  application  to  contain  all  the  requisites 
demanded  in  similar  documents  relative  to  packages  discharged  into  the  custom- 
house stores. 

(7)  Within  six  months  after  the  date  of  the  deposit  the  respective  bonds 
will  be  liquidated,  the  conferring  with  the  manifest  made,  and  the  packages  un- 
cleared or  not  delivered  will  be  inventoried  for  the  purposes  determinated  by 
the  consolidated  laws. 

(8)  The  obligation  upon  the  storekeepers  of  bonded  warehouses  to  forward 
upon  the  same  day  that  the  discharge  is  made,  or  at  the  latest  upon  that  follow- 
ing, unless  it  be  a  holiday,  a  document  extracted  from  the  counterfoil  book 
showing  the  merchandise  received  in  conformity  with  article  240,  remains  in 
force,  under  the  penalties  prescribed  in  article  270,  both  of  the  said  consolidated 
laws,  if  it  be  not  done. 


30  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

COMMERCE  BETWEEN  BRAZIL  AND  BELGIUM. 

Interesting  information  has  been  received  in  regard  to  the  com- 
mercial relations  between  Belgium  and  Brazil,  which  are  reported 
to  have  become  much  closer  during  the  year  1 890  than  ever  before. 
Belgium  finds  in  Brazil  an  important  market  for  its  iron  goods 
and  cast  iron,  while  Brazil  has  increased  its  exports  to  Belgium 
considerably.  The  cargoes  of  vessels  leaving  Antwerp  for  Brazil 
represented  in  1890  a  value  of  $5,520,000,  and  the  price  of  goods 
exported  from  Brazil  to  Antwerp  was  $  1 2,400,000.  The  exports 
from  Brazil  to  Belgium  consist  principally  of  coffee,  leather,  cocoa, 
wool,  and  tobacco,  and  the  increase  in  value  of  these  exports  since 
1888  has  been  more 'than  $3,500,000,  the  greater  part  of  the  in- 
crease being  due  to  coffee,  the^ price  of  which  was  maintained  at  a 
high  level  during  1890.  Nearly  half  a  million  sacks  of  coffee, 
representing  a  value  of  more  than  $  1 2,000,000,  entered  the  port 
of  Antwerp  from  Brazil  in  1890.  Of  this  amount  351,643  sacks 
came  from  Santos,  which  is  now  the  most  important  market  for 
the  export  of  Brazilian  coffee,  although  the  coffees  of  the  province 
of  Bahia  are  much  sought  after  on  account  of  the  facility  with 
which  they  can  be  mixed  with  other  varieties.  The  coffee  of  the 
Dutch  Colonies,  and  particularly  of  Java,  no  longer  offers  a  serious 
competition  to  the  Brazilians.  Antwerp,  in  connection  with  Ham- 
burg, remains  the  great  entrepot  for  Brazilian  coffees. 

The  imports  of  Brazilian  hides  at  Antwerp  increased  in  1890 
from  24,368  skins  to  42,073.  The  dry  leather  exported  from 
Brazil,  chiefly  from  Rio  Grande,  Bahia,  Rio,  and  Santos,  was 
valued  at  over  $25,000. 

The  imports  of  British  goods  into  Brazil  for  the  first  four  months 
of  1891  show  a^general  increase.  The  cotton-goods  imports  were 
$7,591,440,  as  compared  to  $3,702,215  during  the  similar  period 
of  1890;  linen,  $324,850,  as  compared  with  $242,365;  woolen 
stuffs,  $74),  195,  as  compared  with  $537,393;  railroad  materials 
and   machinery,   $2,981,700,  as  compared  with  $2,095,990.     A 


BRAZIL.  31 

total  of  67,829,800  yards  of  cotton  piece  goods  were  exported  from 
Great  Britain  to  Brazil  during  this  period,  as  compared  with 
57, 1 76,-700  a  year  ago. 

VALUE  OF  COTTON    TRADE. 

The  value  of  the  trade  in  cotton  goods  in  Brazil  is  shown  by 
the  returns  for  the  first  four  months  of  last  year,  January  1  to 
April  30,  as  published  by  the  British  Board  of  Trade.  Dur- 
ing this  period  the  exports  of  cotton  piece  goods,  unbleached,  from 
Great  Britain  to  Brazil  amounted  to  5,162,900  yards,  as  against 
6,597,500  yards  during  the  same  period  of  the  previous  year. 

The  exports  of  cotton  piece  goods,  bleached,  for  the  period 
named,  amounted  to  21,744,100  yards  in  1891,  as  against  17,275,- 
300  yards  during  the  corresponding  period  of  1890. 

The  exports  of  prints  for  the  four  months  named  in  1891  were 
30,536,800  yards,  as  against  24,359,400  during  the  corresponding 
period  of  1890. 

The  exports  of  colored  or  dyed  cotton  piece  goods  amounted 
to  10,386,000  yards,  as  against  8,944,500  yards  during  the  previous 
year.  These  making  a  total  of  67,829,800  yards  of  cotton  piece 
goods  exported  to  Brazil  from  Great  Britain  for  the  first  four 
months  of  last  year,  as  against  57, 1 76,700  yards  exported  during 
the  corresponding  period  of  the  previous  year. 

The  value  of  cotton  piece  goods  exported  to  Brazil  for  the  first 
four  months  of  1891  was  $3,866,580,  as  against  $3,443,965  for 
the  corresponding  period  of  the  previous  year. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

The  latest  estimate  places  the  Brazilian  coffee  crop  for  1890-91, 
now  coming  into  market,  at  2,200,000  bags.  Notwithstanding 
the  high  prices,  the  daily  receipts  do  not  average  over  3,000 
bags.  Should  the  present  disorganization  of  labor  continue,  it  is 
believed  that  the  coffee  crop  for  1891-92,  now  placed  at  8,000,000 
or  9,000,000  bags,  will  not  exceed  6,000,000  or  7,000,000  bags. 


32  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

The  Brazilian  Government  has  ordered  the  purchase  of  500,- 
000  cuttings  of  grape  vines  in  the  United  States  and  Europe,  for 
use  in  starting  experimental  vineyards  in  that  Republic. 

A  leading  merchant  of  Brazil  writes  as  follows : 

Almost  anything  made  in  America  is  good  for  this  country.  Glassware  is 
wanted  badly,  particularly  big  tumblers,  water  sets,  and  small  liquor  glasses;  knives 
and  forks,  all  kinds  of  tinware,  hardware,  tools  and  notions  of  every  kind,  cotton, 
sheeting,  prints,  and  cheap  light-weight  woolen  goods.  In  fact,  I  can  only  say 
that  I  do  not  know  what  will  not  sell.  We  want  paper  and  stationery  of  every 
kind,  varnishes,  felt  shoes,  wooden  ware,  gloves,  and  blank  books.  We  have 
recently  had  the  largest  shipment  of  manufactures  from  the  United  States  ever 
landed  here,  and  although  the  prices  charged  were  outrageous  they  met  with  a 
wonderfully  quick  sale.  Lamps  which  are  sold  in  New  York  at  85  cents  were 
sold  here  at  $3  net,  and  I  disposed  of  200  in  a  couple  of  days.  If  I  were 
business  in  New  York,  instead  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  I  would  do  a  big  trade  through- 
out all  the  provinces  of  Brazil.  It  only  wants  some  of  the  New  York  whole- 
sale firms  to  go  for  this  market,  and  before  long  our  people  would  regularly  send 
all  their  supplies. 

Information  as  to  rapid  development  of  the  wine  industry 
in  southern  Brazil  has  been  received.  In  certain  districts  the  vine- 
yards cover  immense  stretches  of  land,  and  a  decided  improve- 
ment has  taken  place  in  the  quality  of  the  product.  Notwith- 
standing its  defects,  good  prices  are  obtained  for  it — more  remuner- 
ative than  coffee.  The  Government  has  taken  steps  to  foster  the 
culture  of  the  vine  by  granting  for  two  years  free  transportation  for 
the  products  over  the  state  railways,  and  has  provided  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  cenological  and  a  phylloxera  station  with  a  vineyard 
attached  for  the  diffusion  of  information  as  to  vine  culture.  The 
cenological  establishment  will,  it  is  claimed,  be  able  in  two  years 
to  supply  annually  25,000  to  30,000  feet  of  vine  having  two  years' 
growth  and  having  the  advantage  of  being  acclimatized.  The 
development  and  propagation  of  different  species  is  about  to  be 
carried  out  also  in  the  state  of  Minas  Geraes,  where  land  has  been 
acquired  for  the  purpose. 

A    report  from  the   United  States  consul-general  at  Rio  de 


BRAZIL.  33 

Janeiro  states  that  the  sales  of  locomotives  of  American  manu- 
facture in  Brazil  have  been  very  large.  One  firm  in  Philadelphia 
during  the  past  ten  years  has  sold  two  hundred  and  fifty-one. 
The  sales  for  each  year  were  as  follows : 


1881 
1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 


16 

1886 

35 

1887 

27 

1888 

32 

1889 

8 

1890 

21 

17 
19 

45 
26 


The  Government  of  Brazil  has  appointed  Dr.  Jose  Augusto  de 
Freitas  and  Capt.  Jose  Candido  Guillobel  as  special  commis- 
sioners to  represent  the  Government  of  Brazil  in  submitting  to 
he  arbitration  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  the  boundary 
question  which  has  long  existed  between  Brazil  and  the  Argen- 
tine Republic. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  is  informed  of  the 
organization  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  of  the  Companhia  Para  Amazones, 
with  a  capital  of  $5,000,000  for  the  purpose  of  exploring  and 
developing  the  natural  resources  of  the  Amazon.  It  is  intended 
to  establish  colonies  on  the  upper  branches  of  the  Amazon  and 
afford  means  of  transportation  to  market  for  a  region  that  has 
heretofore  been  practically  unexplored. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  is  informed  that  the 
legislature  of  the  State  of  Espirito  Santo,  Brazil,  has  passed  a 
bill  granting  a  subsidy  of  $90,000  a  year  for  the  establishment 
of  direct  steam  communication  with  the  United  States. 

The  Hungarian  Diet  has  authorized  the  minister  of  commerce 
of  Hungary  to  enter  into  an  agreement  with  the  Adria  Steam- 
ship Navigation  Company  to  extend  its  service  to  Brazil  and  the 
River  Plate  countries,  for  which  it  will  receive  an  annual  subsidy 
of  570,000  florins.  The  capital  of  the  company  will  be  increased 
to  5,500,000  florins,  of  which  3,000,000  florins  will  be  invested 
in  new  ships. 

By  a  decree  of  the  Government  of  Brazil,  dated  January  31, 
Bull.  41 3 


34  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

of  last  year,  the  consulates  of  that  country  in  the  United  States 
are  divided  into  two  groups,  that  of  the  consulate-general  at 
New  York  embracing  the  New  England  States,  the  Pacific 
vcoast,  and  the  middle  Atlantic  States  to  the  boundary  of  Mary- 
land ;  and  that  of  the  consulate  at  Baltimore  embracing  all  the 
other  Atlantic  and  Gulf  States  from  Maryland  to  Texas. 

The  Government  of  Brazil  has  issued  a  decree  dividing  the 
legations  of  that  Republic  in  foreign  countries  into  two  classes,  as 
follows : 

First  class:  The  United  States,  Germany,  France,  Great 
Britain,  Chile,  Argentine  Republic,  Uruguay.  Italy,  and  Port- 
ugal, where  the  legation  will  be  in  charge  of  envoys  extra- 
ordinary and  ministers  plenipotentiary  of  the  first  class. 

Second  class:  Austria,  Hungary,  Belgium,  Bolivia,  Spain, 
Mexico,  Paraguay,  Peru,  Russia,  the  Vatican,  Switzerland,  and 
Venezuela,  where  the  legations  will  be  filled  by  envoys  extra- 
ordinary and  ministers  plenipotentiary  of  the  second  class. 

The  new  Government  of  Brazil  has  suspended  proceedings  in 
the  confiscation  of  the  property  belonging  to  Princess  Isabella  and 
other  members  of  the  family  of  the  late  Emperor. 

The  Brazilian  Congress  has  fixed  the  salary  of  the  President  at 
$60,000  per  year,  and  that  of  the  Vice-President  at  $18,000. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  is  informed  that  one  of 
the  first  acts  of  the  Brazilian  Congress  when  it  reconvened  after 
its  dispersion  by  the  late  President  Deodora  was  to  make  an  ap- 
propriation of  610  contos  of  reis,  which  is  equivalent  to  $329,000, 
"to  aid  the  representation  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil  at  the 
International  Exposition  at  Chicago."  The  new  President  of  the 
Republic  formally  approved  the  bill,  and  the  money  was  placed  to 
the  credit  of  the  minister  of  agriculture,  who  is  to  have  general 
direction  of  the  Brazilian  exhibit.  The  amount  thus  appropriated 
is  to  pay  the  expense  of  the  General  Government  in  connection 
with  the  Exposition,  but  nearly  all  of  the  individual  states  of  Brazil 


BRAZIL.  35 

have  made  separate  appropriations  to  pay  the  expense  of  securing 
exhibits  of  their  own  resources.  The  display  from  Brazil  will  be 
very  complete  and  will  include  agricultural  and  mining  products, 
a  large  number  of  the  woods  of  her  forests,  fiber  and  medicinal 
plants,  means  of  transportation,  and  large  collections  of  objects 
having  historical  and  ethnological  value.  The  practical  working 
of  the  mining,  coffee,  tobacco,  cotton,  and  other  industries  will  be 
shown,  and  it  is  expected  that  a  family  of  Indians  from  Parana 
will  be  at  Chicago  as  part  of  the  collection  of  native  types  of 
America. 

The  Corcovado  Railroad  Company  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  proposes 
making  an  exhibit  in  miniature  of  their  railway  at  the  Chicago 
Exposition.  It  is  the  purpose  to  have  large  photographs  illustrat- 
ing the  mountain  route  through  which  the  railway  passes,  the 
bridges,  the  stations,  the  hotel  at  the  summit,  and  interesting  scen- 
ery adjacent.  They  will  have  molded,  in  papier-mache,  the 
mountain  of  Corcovado  in  miniature,  with  the  railway  laid  down 
as  in  actual  operation.  The  total  length  of  the  road  is  10,528 
feet;  or  two  miles,  less  300  feet.  The  rise  from  the  station  at  the 
upper  end  of  the  road  to  the  summit  is  2,300  feet,  and  is  reached 
by  a  footpath.  The  average  grade  of  the  road  is  13  per  cent, 
the  maximum  grade  is  33  per  cent,  and  the  minimum  grade  8  per 
cent.  The  Sylvester  Bridge,  which  is  built  entirely  of  steel  and 
in  what  is  known  as  balloon  frame  pattern,  is  264  feet  long  and 
164  feet  high.  It  has  a  curved  axis,  with  a  radius  of  curvature  of 
395  feet,  and  the  grade  on  the  bridge  is  20  per  cent.  The  road  is 
constructed  on  the  Riga  plan.  The  Corcovado  Railway  connects 
the  city  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  with  the  top  of  the  mountain  of  the  same 
name.  The  mountain  can  be  seen  on  a  clear  day  by  mariners  ap- 
proaching the  harbor  of  Rio  at  a  distance  of  more  than  100  miles. 
The  view  from  the  top  of  Corcovado  is  a  magnifieent  one,  com- 
prising the  ocean,  the  city  and  bay  of  Rio,  with  the  Organ  Moun- 
tains inland. 


Chili 


WHERE  CHILE  BUYS  HER  IMPORTS. 

The  French  consul  at  Valparaiso,  writing  on  the  subject  of 
the  commercial  condition  of  Chile,  says : 

The  greater  part  of  the  commodities  for  daily  consumption  come  from 
Europe.  The  same  is  the  case  with  regard  to  materials  for  large  works. 
England  and  Germany  send  to  Chile,  via  Valparaiso,  rails  for  railways,  portable 
rails  for  mines  (competing  as  regards  this  latter  article  with  France,  which  sends 
small  railways  on  the  Decauville  system),  machinery  of  all  kinds,  including 
locomotives  entirely  fitted  up.  Belgium  sends  a  quantity  of  zinc  in  sheets, 
which  is  used  for  covering  houses,  and  even  often  for  the  building  of  complete 
houses;  she  sends,  via  Antwerp,  German  and  Belgium  refined  sugars,  which 
are  largely  consumed  in  Chile.  France  sends  principally  provisions,  mineral 
waters  (Vichy,  St.  Galmier),  Bordeaux  and  champagne  wines.  Preserved 
foods,  boxes  of  sardines,  tunny,  etc.,  fruits  in  brandy,  are  in  great  demand,  not- 
withstanding the  customs  duties  with  which  they  are  taxed.  Tissues  find  also 
a  ready  sale,  notwithstanding  the  competition  of  English  and  German  makers. 
French  tailors,  dress  and  shirt-makers,  and  hatters  are  largely  appreciated  in 
the  country.  Within  late  years  France  has  made  great  headway  in  the  con- 
signment of  her  metallic  products  to  Chile.  Quite  recently  the  "Forges  et 
Chantiers  de  la  Mediterran6e  "  have  constructed  two  cruisers,  the  President  Pinto 
and  the  President  Errazuriz,  and  a  large  armor-clad,  the  Cafntan  Prat. 

The  share  of  the  other  nations  in  the  import  trade  of  Chile  is  insignificant. 
Italy  sends  white  marbles  in  sheets  and  slabs,  tiles  of  faience  for  paving,  olive 
oils,  and  wines;  Spain  sends  wines  and  tissues;  Denmark  and  Norway  send 
beer  and  salt  fish;  Switzerland,  cottons  and  woolens;  Holland,  cheese,  gin, 
tissues,  etc.  As  regards  American  nations,  their  part  is  very  insignificant. 
Brazil,  Central  America,  and  Mexico  send  coffee;  Peru  and  Ecuador,  raw 
sugar  and  cocoa;   Argentine  Republic,  cattle  and  raw  hides. 

Australia  sends  principally  coal  from  its  port  at  Newcastle  and  coke  for  the 
foundries. 


CHILE.  37 

THE  TRANSANDINE  RAILWAY. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  is  informed  that  satisfac- 
tory progress  is  being  made  on  the  Transandine  Railway,  which 
is  to  connect  the  Argentine  Republic  with  the  Pacific  coast  of 
Chile.  The  following  statement  has  been  furnished :  The  work 
is  important  from  two  distinct  points  of  view.  The  engineering 
difficulties  can  only  be  surmounted  by  skill  and  great  persever- 
ance. Indeed,  it  is  only  possible  to  appreciate  the  magnitude  of 
the  undertaking  when  one  realizes  that  mountains,  clad  with  per- 
petual snows,  are  to  be  pierced  by  tunnels  over  10,000  feet  above 
the  sea;  that  the  only  approach  is  by  means  of  mule  tracks,  im- 
passable for  six  months  in  the  year;  and  that  food,  material,  and 
machinery  have  to  be  carried  four  days'  journey  on  the  backs  of 
mules  over  paths  so  steep  and  tortuous  that  only  single  loads  of 
moderate  dimensions  can  be  carried.  The  country  through  which 
the  line  passes — a  great  part  of  it  little  frequented — presents  ob- 
jects of  interest  from  an  agricultural,  mercantile,  and  commercial 
standpoint,  although  there  are  long  stretches  of  sandy  banks  and 
mountain  passes.  The  fertile  plains  of  the  pampas  and  the  vine- 
yards near  the  Andes  offer  a  field  of  enterprise  to  the  farmer  and 
agriculturist,  and  when  the  cattle  reared  on  the  pampas  can  be 
carried  in  a  few  hours  over  the  Andes  by  the  new  line,  instead  of 
having  to  be  driven  for  days  over  the  mountains,  where  food  is 
scarce,  the  productive  powers  of  the  country  will  doubtless  be 
utilized  to  an  extent  hitherto  impossible. 

The  railway  will,  when  completed,  form,  as  has  been  already 
stated,  the  final  connecting  link  in  the  transcontinental  railway 
between  Buenos  Ayres,  the  capital  of  the  Argentine  Republic  on 
the  Atlantic  coast,  and  Valparaiso,  the  chief  seaport  of  Chile  on 
the  Pacific  coast,  and  unite  the  railway  systems  of  the  two  most 
important  republics  in  South  America.  The  distance  between 
Buenos  Ayres  and  Valparaiso  by  transcontinental  railway  will  be 
about  850  miles,  of  which  757   miles  are  in   Argentine   and  93 


38  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

miles  in  Chilean  territory.  The  whole  of  the  Argentine  section 
was  included  in  the  original  concession  to  Messrs.  Clark,  but  220 
miles  from  Villa  Mercedes  to  Mendoza  were  constructed  by  the 
Government;  they  were  subsequently  bought  by  Messrs.  Clark, 
and  now  form  the  Argentine  Great  Western  system.  The  428 
miles  from  Buenos  Ayres  to  Villa  Mercedes  were  built  by  Messrs. 
Clark,  and  now  constitute  the  main  line  of  the  Buenos  Ayres  and 
Pacific  Railway.  Both  of  these  lines  have  a  gauge  of  5  feet  6  inches, 
the  standard  broad  gauge  of  the  country.  The  remaining  109 
miles  from  Mendoza  to  the  frontier  are  under  construction,  and 
form  part  of  the  Transandine  Railway. 

On  the  Chilean  side,  the  distance  from  Valparaiso  to  the  fron- 
tier is  93  miles,  of  which  53  miles  to  Santa  Rosa  are  built  to  the 
4  feet  8^-inch  guage,  and  have  been  worked  for  some  years  by  the 
Chilean  Government,  leaving  40  miles  from  Santa  Rosa  to  the 
frontier,  which  are  now  under  construction  by  Messrs.  Clark. 

Messrs.  Clark  have,  however,  the  whole  of  this  mountain  rail- 
way in  hand,  109  miles  on  the  Argentine  side,  which  they  are 
constructing  for  the  English  company,  called  the  Buenos  Ayres 
and  Valparaiso  Transandine  Railway  Company  (Limited),  and 
40  miles  on  the  Chilean  side,  called  Clark's  Transandine  Rail- 
way, which  they  are  constructing  on  their  own  account,  making  a 
total  length  of  149  miles,  the  whole  of  which  is  of  a  mountainous 
character,  presenting  engineering  difficulties  of  exceptional  mag- 
nitude. 

The  starting  point,  Mendoza,  is  2,376  feet,  and  the  terminus,  at 
Santa  Rosa,  2,704  feet  above  sea  level.  The  lowest  pass  between 
these  points  attains  an  elevation  of  1 2,467  feet  above  sea  level,  or 
about  10,000  feet  above  the  termini.  A  careful  survey  showed 
that  to  carry  a  surface  line,  with  gradients  that  could  be  worked 
profitably  by  adhesion,  would  entail  a  considerable  deviation, 
adding  materially  to  the  mileage,  without  providing  any  security 
against  snow  and  avalanches.  It  was  therefore  decided  to  adopt 
the  Abt  rack  system,  with  8  per  cent  gradients,  tor  a  portion  of 


CHILE.  39 

the  line,  and  to  carry  the  line  in  tunnels  for  a  considerable  distance 
in  those  portions  where  snow  and  avalanches  had  to  be  encoun- 
tered, and  at  the  summit,  where  2,000  feet  in  altitude  could  be 
saved  by  a  tunnel  3  miles  in  length.  It  has  been  finally  arranged 
that  the  first  84  miles  of  the  line  from  Mendoza  are  to  be  con- 
structed with  gradients  not  exceeding  2l/2  per  cent,  worked  by 
adhesion.  The  locomotives  to  be  used  in  the  remaining  65  miles 
will  be  constructed  so  that  they  can  work  either  by  adhesion  or 
by  use  of  toothed  wheels,  thus  enabling  short  sections  of  rack  to 
be  introduced  where  required.  The  longest  section  of  rack,  which 
will  be  about  10  miles,  will  be  at  the  summit. 

But  49  miles  remain  to  be  constructed  of  the  railway  that  is  to 
connect  Buenos  Ayres  with  Valparaiso.  At  the  recent  meeting 
of  the  directors  of  the  company  in  London  it  was  announced  that 
700  miles  are  now  open  to  traffic.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  Bar- 
ing Brothers'  failure  it  is  believed  that  the  road  would  have  been 
finished  at  the  present  time.  But  the  work  of  construction,  which 
was  suspended  for  a  time,  has  been  begun  with  renewed  vigor,  and 
the  directors  promise  that  it  shall  be  pushed  through  without  fur- 
ther delay.  The  mountain  section,  which  is  149  miles  in  length, 
involves  very  heavy  work  and  necessitates  a  large  number  of  tun- 
nels, many  of  them  in  the  region  of  perpetual  snow,  more  than 
10,000  feet  above  the  sea.  The  mountain  section  is  to  be  worked 
partly  by  adhesion  on  gradients  of  2^  per  cent,  or  132  feet,  to  the 
mile,  and  partly  (the  locomotives  being  geared  so  that  they  enter 
upon  the  track  without  stopping)  by  the  use  of  toothed  wheels, 
upon  the  Abt  system,  over  gradients  the  maximum  of  which  is  8 
per  cent,  or  422.4  feet,  per  mile. 

It  is  authoritatively  announced  that  in  a  very  short  time  the  new 
telegraph  line  will  be  completed  between  Valparaiso  and  Buenos 
Ayres.  This  line  will  connect  at  Buenos  Ayres  with  the  Coast 
Line,  from  Buenos  Ayres  to  Europe,  by  way  of  Montevideo  and 
the  Brazilian  ports.  It  will  be  operated  from  Valparaiso  in  con- 
nection with  the  West  Coast  Cable  Line. 


Colombia, 


COMMERCE  WITH  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

The  Hon.  Climaco  Calderon,  consul-general  of  Colombia  at 
New  York,  has  made  the  following  report  to  his  Government 
concerning  the  commerce  between  Colombia  and  the  United 
States  : 

I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  to  your  excellency  three  tabular  statements 
showing  the  number  of  cases  of  merchandise,  their  weight  in  kilograms,  and 
their  value  in  United  States  money,  exported  from  this  port  to  Colombia  in 
1890. 

It  appears  from  these  tables  that,  in  the  year  referred  to,  merchandise  exported 
from  this  port  to  Colombia  amounted  to  $2,580,736.86,  representing  a  bulk  ot 
468,010  cases,  with  a  gross  weight  of  26,972,855  kilos.  Of  these  exportations 
263,954  cases,  weighing  14,003,909  kilos,  and  amounting  to  $976,392.45,  were 
for  the  free  ports,  and  205,055  cases,  weighing  12,968,964  kilos,  and  to  the 
value  of  $1,604,344.41,  for  the  ports  of  entry.  The  goods  imported  through 
Maracaibo  and  Cucuta  do  not  figure  on  those  tables,  because  the  invoices  are 
not  certified  by  this  consulate,  but  by  that  of  Venezuela. 

From  the  statistics  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  United  States  for  the  fiscal 
year  ending  the  30th  of  June,  1890,  published  by  the  Treasury  Department, 
the  exportations  from  the  United  States  to  Colombia  amounted  in  that  year  to 
$2,522,351,  exclusive  of  gold  and  silver,  in  coins  or  in  bars,  exported  to  the 
same  country.  These  exportations  consist  principally  in  flour,  canned  meats, 
drugs  and  medicines,  coal,  cotton  goods,  petroleum,  machinery  of  every  kind, 
hardwares,  glasswares,  and  stationery.  From  the  statistics  published  by  the 
American  Government  it  is  seen  that  the  exportations  of  the  United  States  to 
Colombia,  exclusive  of  the  precious  metals,  amounted  to — 


1880 $5,  230, 000 

1881 5,  180,000 

1882 6,  230,000 

1883 6,  720,000 

1884 6,  170,000 

1885 5,  400, 000 

40 


1886 $5,  290, 000 

1887 5,970,000 

1 888 4,  920,  000 

1889 3,  730,000 

1890  (as  stated) 2,  522,  35 1 


COLOMBIA. 


4> 


The  exportations  to  Colombia  during  the  fiscal  year  ending  the  30th  of 
June,  1890,  compared  with  those  of  the  preceding  year,  will  show  a  decrease  of 
$1,206,610. 

In  what  relates  to  the  importations  of  Colombian  products  into  the  United 
States,  the  only  data  that  this  consulate  can  submit  are  drawn  from  the  statistics 
published  by  the  Treasury  Department.  From  them  it  appears  that  the  impor- 
tations for  the  last  eleven  fiscal  years  ending  the  30th  of  June,  fluctuated  as  fol- 
lows: 


1880 $8,  440,  000 

1881 5,990,000 

1882 5,980,000 

1883 5.  170.000 

1884 3,  B90,  000 

1885 3,  340,  000 


1886 


53,  000, 000 

3,  950,  000 

4,  390,  000 
4,  263,  789 

3,575,283 


According  to  these  data,  the  importation  of  Colombian  articles  into  the 
United  States  were  $683,266  less  in  1890  than  in  the  preceding  year. 

In  the  above  figures,  referring  to  the  exportation  from  the  United  States  to 
Colombia  and  to  the  importation  of  Colombian  articles  into  the  United  States, 
gold  and  silver  in  coins  or  in  bars  are  not  included.  The  amounts  imported 
by  each  country  into  the  other  are  as  follows : 


Year. 


Imported  into 

the  United 

States. 


Imported  into 
Colombia. 


880 
881 
882 
883 
884 
885 
886 
887 
888 
889 
890 


Dollars. 
598,  683 
523,  140 
429,  813 

374,  558 
349.  453 
966,  956 
932,  642 
820,  350 

1,  134.  097 
1,  642,  795 
1,  778,  326 


Dollars. 
155,780 
23I,  24I 
29O,  54O 

475.  384 
864,  631 
825,072 
962,  277 
1,  043,  394 
791,085 
393.  278 


The  preceding  data  show,  most  unmistakably,  that  our  commerce  with  the 
United  States,  far  from  increasing,  has  lately  declined.  Respecting  the  importa- 
tion of  Colombian  products  to  the  United  States,  the  following  statements  for 
the  years  1880  and  1888  will  be  found  useful. 


42 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


Colombian  products. 


Cacao 

Coffee 

Peruvian  bark 

Cochineal 

Leather 

Caoutchouc  (India  rubber) 

Indigo 

Rosin 

Timber 

Plantains 

Cocoanuts 

Tagua  

Vanilla  and  other  vegetable  products. 

Dyewood , 

Cotton 

Unprepared  hides 

Fruits  of  various  kinds , 

Unrefined  sugar 

Tobacco 

Different  products  and  articles 


Total 


1880. 


Dollars. 
375,031 
2,018,471 
I,  069,  242 

S3,  267 

1,  775,  206 

1,909,  851 

130,  295 

44,  029 

60,  133 


30,  424 
10, 888 
10,  058 

156,  184 
46,  994 
19,  646 

732,253 


8,  441,  972 


lsss. 


Dollars. 

45,676 
I,  749,  862 

39,  !54 


1,239,213 

388,  691 

114 

381 

47,  529 

143,  494 

256, 759 

93,ii8 

38,3H 

3,554 

101 

53,  945 
1,604 

123,047 

658 

168,  033 


4,  393,  258 


As  seen  by  this  table  the  exportations  from  Colombia  into  the  United  States 
for  1888  were  $4,048,714  less  than  in  1880.  The  lowest  value  of  the  articles 
exported  in  1888,  compared  with  that  of  those  of  similar  kind  exported  in  1880, 
is  as  follows : 

Peruvian  bark  (quinine) $k,  030,  088 

Cacao 329,  355 

Coffee 267,  609 

Leather 535,  993 

India  rubber 1,  681, 160 

Indigo 130,  181 

There  are  some  articles,  such  as  cochineal,  the  exportation  of  which  has  ceased 
completely,  and  the  same  has  happened  with  quinine,  and  may  also  take  place 
with  tagua,  which  has  depreciated  a  great  deal,  and  the  commerce  of  that  prod- 
uct is  threatened  with  extinction.  There  is,  however,  a  small  increase,  though 
of  small  importance,  in  fruits,  unprepared  hides,  and  unrefined  sugar.  In  regard 
to  the  quantity  of  the  principal  articles,  it  will  be  observed  that  the  exportation 
to  this  country  has  decreased,  and  that  the  lowest  value  depends  upon  the  lowest 
quantity.  Thus,  for  instance,  it  will  be  seen  that  coffee,  which  in  1880  reached 
12,687,423  English  pounds,  decreased  to  10,893,354  m  1888;  the  exportation 
of  cacao  went  down  from  1,947,972  pounds  in  1880  to  198,564  in  1888,  quinine 
from  4,746,379  pounds  in  1880  to  299,011  in  1888,  indigo  from  141,718  pounds 


COLOMBIA.  43 

to  142,  and  india  rubber  from  3,871,665  to  919,408.  The  exportation  of  cochi- 
neal in  1880  reached  132,470  pounds,  but  this  article,  like  quinine  and  indigo, 
does  not  figure  in  the  last  statistics,  and  seems  to  have  disappeared  entirely  from 
this  market. 

I  am  of  your  excellency  the  obedient  servant, 

Climaco   Calderon. 

RESOURCES. 

A  correspondent  writes  as  follows  to  the  Evening  News  and 
Post  of  London : 

The  expulsion  of  Jews  from  Russia  and  their  influx  into  this  country  in  more 
or  less  alarming  numbers  in  a  destitute  condition  is  once  more  bringing  promi- 
nently before  the  public  many  important  points  of  political  economy,  and  more 
especially  the  consideration  of  questions  dealing  with  surplus  population,  the 
unemployed,  and  other  kindred  topics.  Into  these  considerations,  of  course, 
there  enters  largely  the  question  of  immigration  and  emigration,  and  all  the 
heartburning  elements  of  that  painful  controversy.  The  influx  of  destitute 
aliens,  we  are  informed,  is  likely  to  increase  instead  of  diminish,  unless  there  be 
a  prompt  interference  by  Parliament,  and  this  in  face  of  increasing  labor  trou- 
bles and  struggles  for  daily  bread  among  the  legitimate  population.  I  am  not 
proposing  to  discuss  here  the  expediency  of  whether  we  ought  or  ought  not  to 
adopt  restriction,  on  immigration,  but  rather  to  consider  the  question  of  dealing 
with  the  difficulty  through  the  medium  of  fresh  and  attractive  fields  of  coloniza- 
tion. There  are  many  philanthropic  schemes  under  discussion  in  this  connec- 
tion for  diverting  the  flow  of  these  poor  people  to  Syria,  to  America,  and  to 
other  places  where  they  might  find  rest  and  occupation,  and  in  this  connection 
it  would  appear  to  me  that  the  Republic  of  Colombia,  South  America,  offers 
many  attractions.  The  resources  of  this  country  are  most  varied  and  vast,  and 
give  promise  of  tremendous  development  within  a  period  not  very  remote.  The 
government  of  Colombia  are  quite  alive  to  this  important  branch  of  political 
economy,  and  very  liberal  laws  have  been  passed  and  every  inducement  offered 
by  them  to  attract  emigrants.  In  my  opinion,  few  better  places  could  be  found 
for  European  emigrants.  In  the  Republic  of  Colombia,  South  America,  oppor- 
tunities for  investment  are  numerous,  and  there  is  an  ample  demand  for  labor  in 
coffee,  tobacco,  and  cocoa  estates,  and  in  the  various  mines. 

The  climate  of  the  higher  regions  is  cool  and  healthy,  whilst  within  the  coun- 
try itself  there  are  ample  markets  and  facilities  for  profitable  commerce.  The 
shores  possessed  by  the  Republic  equal  in  length  the  line  of  coast  extending  from- 
Cadiz  to  Dantzic.      But  it  is  upon  the  internal  resources  of  the  country  that,  I 


44  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

think,  its  immediate  future  will  depend.  What  are  those  resources  ?  They  are 
simply  immense.  In  addition  to  the  natural  facilities  afforded  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  cocoa  or  chocolate,  maize,  sugar,  cotton,  tobacco,  gum,  spices,  timber 
barley,  wheat,  and  numerous  tropical  fruits,  cattle  can  be  raised  in  quantities 
and  cheaply,  whilst  the  mineral  resources  of  the  country — including  gold  and 
silver,  and  emeralds,  mineral  oils,  salt,  and  coals — are  immense.  Reference  to 
the  map  will  at  once  demonstrate  the  undoubtedly  admirable  geographical  situ- 
ation of  the  Republic  for  the  purposes  of  commerce.  Drought  is  a  thing  almost 
unknown,  whilst  the  facilities  for  the  adoption  of  hydraulic  machinery  are  noted, 
and  the  means  of  transport  are  inexpensive,  if  not  quite  so  rapid  and  efficient  as 
could  be  desired.  The  government  are,  however,  fully  alive  to  the  necessity 
for  improving  this  condition  of  things,  and  they  have  just  passed  through  Con- 
gress a  bill  for  stimulating  the  construction  of  railways,  the  chief  feature  of  which 
is  a  grant  of  $5,000  for  every  mile  completed.  A  line  is  now  being  pushed  for- 
ward from  the  river  Magdalena  to  the  capital  of  the  State  of  Antioquia,  a  dis- 
tance of  130  miles.  This  State  is  the  great  mining  center  of  the  Republic, 
rejoicing  in  an  annual  surplus  of  over  $500,000.  Moreover,  it  is  noteworthy 
that  the  inhabitants  are  chiefly  descendants  from  Jews  expelled  from  Spain,  and 
are  a  thrifty,  hard-working  class.  The  Government  of  the  Republic  are  look- 
ing to  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  country  by  the  civilizing  and 
peaceful  methods  of  railway  and  mining  and  agricultural  enterprise.  Consid- 
erable activity  prevails  at  the  present  time  within  the  prolific  valley  of  the  river 
Magdalena,  than  which  it  would  be  impossible,  perhaps,  to  find  a  more  fertile 
and  valuable  country.  The  virgin  soil  is  1 5  feet  deep,  and  gives  two,  and  ot 
some  products  three,  crops  a  year,  whilst  the  presence  of  auriferous  gravels  is 
repeatedly  met  with.  The  hills  consist  of  alluvial  deposits  of  gravel,  in  which 
rich  deposits  of  gold  have  been  discovered. 

Many  of  the  gold  mines  are  wonderfully  productive.  I  recently  witnessed 
what  is  termed  a  clean-up  in  one  of  these  rich  mines — the  Colombian  Hydrau- 
lic— whilst  I  saw  other  mines  even  with  richer  deposits  of  gold  on  the  Barreto 
property,  near  Fiegno,  and  am  in  complete  accord  with  Humboldt's  views, 
stated  as  long  ago  as  in  1804,  when  he  said  that  the  Republic  of  Colombia 
furnishes  a  vast  field  for  the  enterprising  spirit  of  the  miner.  Indeed,  gold,  plati- 
num, silver,  mejrcury,  copper,  alum,  gum,  salt,  and  sulphur,  are  becoming  objects 
of  important  workings.  The  gold  produce,  even  in  Humboldt's  time,  amounted 
on  the  average  to  20,500  marks  of  Castile  p;r  annum.  It  is  calculated  that  the 
Barreto  mining  estates  alone  would  take  one  hundred  years  to  work  out.  At  the 
Colombian  Hydraulic  Mine,  the  average  amount  of  gold  obtained  per  cubic 
yard  is  of  the  value  of  12  cents;  yet  the  company  pay  20  per  cent  per  annum. 
At  Fresno,  however,  the  yield  is  much  greater.      The  theory  of  experts,  indeed, 


COLOMBIA.  45 

is  that  even  greater  quantities  of  gold  are  to  be  found  in  the  higher  ranges  of  the 
hills,  and  that  the  Colombian  mine,  although  a  very  paying  concern,  is  only  the 
tail  end  of  the  gold  which  has  descended  from  the  higher  to  the  lower  ranges 
of  the  hills.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  I  think,  that  when  these  gold  deposits  are 
opened  out  they  will  astonish  the  world.  Many  valuable  silver  mines  are  also 
met  with.  I  need  mention  only  one — the  Tolima  mine,  at  Frias.  About 
$2,919,900  worth  of  silver  has  already  been  extracted  from  it,  and  there  are 
said  to  be  over  $1,946,600  worth  more  in  sight.  In  fact,  the  deeper  the  mine 
penetrates  the  richer  seems  to  become  the  lode.  Vast  as  is  the  mineral  wealth  of 
the  country,  I  am  of  opinion  that  by  far  greater  resources  lie  in  its  agricultural 
productiveness.  I  have  already  alluded  to  the  richness  and  deepness  of  the  vir- 
gin soil  in  the  valley  of  the  Magdalena,  where  estates  can  be  obtained  and  many 
of  them  are  now  being  developed  at  considerable  profits,  notably  those  belong- 
ing to  Messrs.  Fruhling  and  Goschen,  at  Ambalema.  No  doubt,  whilst  land  is 
easy  of  acquisition  in  good  localities,  the  difficulty  is  considerable.  To  render 
an  estate  a  very  paying  concern  it  is  essential  that  the  land  be  rich  and  generous 
and  well  watered;  that  the  means  of  communication  to  the  markets  for  the  sale 
of  the  produce  of  the  estate,  either  by  road  or  river,  be  easily  available;  that 
the  estate  be  situated  in  a  district  where  labor  can  be  easily  and  cheaply  obtained, 
and  that  any  squatters  on  the  estate  be  bought  out. 

Such  estates  can  only  be  obtained  after  considerable  trouble  and  some  expense, 
and  probably  after  careful  searching  for  years.  But  when  obtained,  with  good 
management  aided  by  a  fair  amount  of  working  capital,  the  profits  are  immense, 
ranging  from  20  per  cent  up  to  50  per  cent  on  the  outlay.  Land,  however, 
in  less  favored  regions  can  be  obtained  easily  enough,  and  will  give  a  fair  return 
of,  say,  8  per  cent  or  10  per  cent  on  the  capital  invested. 

It  is  estimated  that  an  estate  of  about  4,000  acres  would  cost  at  the  rate  of 
about  $12.17  an  acre  f°r  clearing  and  placing  in  cultivation,  and  that  in  the 
growth  of  maize,  plaintains,  cassava,  beans,  yams,  sweet  potatoes,  etc.,  articles 
for  which  there  is  an  immediate  and  ready  sale  in  the  country  itself  would  yield 
an  immediate  annual  net  profit  of  something  like  $80,297,  or  23^  per  cent 
upon  the  capital.  In  addition  to  this  may  be  carried  on  a  business  in  timber 
and  in  cattle-breeding,  which  is  usually  more  productive  still.  But  it  is  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  cacao  or  chocolate  tree  that  the  land  of  the  Magdalena 
Valley,  especially  the  part  betwixt  Honda  and  Puerto  Berro,  with  which  I  am 
more  intimately  acquainted,  is  most  celebrated,  and  this  is  an  industry  far  sur- 
passing those  I  have  mentioned  in  lucrative  productiveness.  I  visited  the  Am- 
balema and  other  agricultural  estates  belonging  to  Messrs.  Fruhling  and  Goschen, 
and  other  estates,  and  was  very  much  impressed  by  their  wealth  and  capacity. 
They  were  in  parts  well  wooded  with  useful  descriptions  of  timber  and  excellent 


46  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

in  all  respects  for  extensive  agricultural  pursuits.  But  by  far  the  largest  and 
most  profitable  source  of  revenue  is  to  be  derived  from  the  planting  on  a  large 
scale  of  the  valuable  cacao  tree.  Some  of  these  trees  have  been  known  to 
bear  12  pounds,  14  pounds,  and  16  pounds  apiece,  and  after  four  years  the 
labor  involved  in  attending  to  them  is  very  slight.  The  profitable  results  ob- 
tained from  their  cultivation  have  induced  the  Colombian  planters  to  pay  special 
attention  to  their  culture,  and  a  regular  line  of  steamers  is  now  running  between 
the  river  Simi  and  Cartagena  for  the  accommodation  of  this  traffic.  Maize, 
sugar  cane,  cotton,  tobacco,  and  other  products  can  be  grown  simultaneously 
with  the  cacao  tree  without  injury  to  the  latter.  Large  markets  for  the  prod- 
ucts of  these  estates  will  be  found  in  the  internal  trade  of  the  country  itself, 
and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  demands  of  Colombia  exceed  the  supply  of  cacao 
at  the  present  time,  but  there  is  also  a  large  and  growing  export  trade.  The 
foreign  office  returns  for  1890,  for  example,  show  the  total  exports  of  Great 
Britain,  France,  the  United  States,  and  Germany — four  of  the  chief  countries 
trading  with  Colombia — to  have  been  in  merchandise  $6,044,898  and  in  coined 
money,  $153,723,  or  a  total  of  $6,198,621.  The  greater  exports  were  to 
Great  Britain,  to  which  were  exported  $2,200,612  in  merchandise  and  $12,487 
in  coined  money,  making  a  total  of  $2,213,099.  This  merchandise  included 
$1,558,273  in  metals  and  ores,  $435,255  in  coffee,  $56,958  in  india  rubber, 
$22,756  in  cacao,  and  the  rest  in  hides,  tobacco,  ivory,  timber,  cotton,  and  other 
articles.  This  country  monopolizes  by  far  the  greater  part  of  this  carrying 
trade,  for  out  of  the  total  number  of  ships  (both  sailing  and  steamers)  enter- 
ing Colombian  ports  during  the  same  year  of  894  vessels  and  798,762  tons 
Great  Britain  supplied  261  vessels  and  418,260  tons.  It  may  be  said  that 
these  figures  are  somewhat  insignificant  in  themselves,  and  that  is  precisely  what 
I  am  desirous  of  drawing  attention  to,  because  I  am  of  opinion  that  they  are  cap- 
able of  wonderful  expansion  when  once  the  remarkable  resources  and  natural  prod- 
ucts of  the  country  are  opened  out.  That  they  will  be  opened  out,  and  that 
very  shortly,  there  is  already  abundant  proof.  Industrial  and  commercial 
agencies  will  do  much  to  foster  the  productive  wealth  of  the  Republic,  but  at 
the  same  time  a  judiciously  supervised  system  of  emigration  thence  would,  in  my 
opinion,  considerably  accelerate  that  development. 

IMPORTS  AND  EXPORTS  FOR  i889-'9o. 

In  1889  the  total  amount  of  foreign  merchandise  imported  into 
Colombia  weighed  81,540,936  pounds,  and  represented  a  value  of 
$11,777,624.  In  1890  the  weight  was  95,709,131  pounds,  and 
the  value  $13,445,792. 


COLOMBIA.  47 

Duties  collected  in  1889,  $7,801,600;  in  1890,  $8,627,688. 

The  increase  in  the  importation  has  been  noticed  especially  in 
the  following  articles :  Liquors  and  beverages,  material  for  illu- 
minating purposes,  hides  and  skins,  drugs,  rattan,  crockery,  timber, 
quicksilver,  copper,  bronze,  iron,  steel,  lead,  tin,  paper,  pasteboard, 
and  common  salt. 

A  decrease  has  been  noticed  in  the  following :  Provisions,  glass- 
ware, perfumery,  soaps,  and  building  material. 

The  increase  of  the  imports  from  Germany  in  1890  was 
$314,629;  of  the  imports  from  France,  $301,461 ;  of  the  imports 
from  Great  Britain,  $405,325.  The  imports  from  Spain  were 
double  that  of  the  year  before. 

The  exports  from  Colombia  were,  in  1889,  $16,199,718;  in 
1890,  $20,457,855. 

Exportation  of  coffee  in  1889,  $3,516,293;  in  1890,  $4,262,030. 

Exportation  of  cotton  in  1889,  $96,176;  in  1890,  $304,351. 

Exportation  of  tobacco  in  1889,  $798,029 ;  in  1890,  $1,820,757. 

Exportation  of  coin  (silver  and  gold)  in  1889,  $315,887;  in 
1890,  $1,024,964. 

Exports  to  Germany  in  1889,  $1,410,683 ;  in  1890,  $2,475,388. 

Exports  to  the  United  States  in  1889,  $3,950,531 ;  in  1890, 
$4,636,480. 

Exports  to  France  in  1889,  $1,781,619;  in  1890,  $1,566,636. 

Exports  to  Great  Britain  in  1889,  $4,547,628;  in  1890,  $4,- 

The  exports  from  the  port  of  Savanilla,  Colombia,  during  the 
year  1889,  comprised  fifty  different  kinds  of  products,  in  273,930 
packages  of  various  sizes,  weighing  7,000  tons,  and  valued  at 
$3,006,437.  In  this  lot  were  included  70,725  bags  of  coffee, 
valued  at  $1,720,355,  but  no  other  agricultural  product  is  largely 
represented,  chocolate  being  represented  by  a  solitary  package 
valued  at  $50,  while  there  were  500  bags  of  raw  cocoa,  valued  at 


48  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

$20,654.  The  exports  of  hides  were  valued,  at  $812,586,  horns 
$69,277,  and  gold  and  silver  exclusive  of  specie  at  $126,619. 

Official  returns  of  the  production  of  precious  metals  in  Colom- 
bia have  been  received.  During  the  ninety  years  of  the  present 
century  the  gold  and  silver  mines  of  Colombia  have  yielded  the 
aggregate  amount  of  $240,000,000. 

In  colonial  times  the  production  of  the  mines  never  exceeded 
$3,100,000  per  year. 

Subsequent  to  the  independence,  in  1884,  in  1889,  and  1890, 
more  than  $4,000,000  per  year  were  obtained.  In  1889  the 
production  was  $4,024,000,  and  in  1890  $4,430,000. 

The  average  annual  production  can  be  estimated  at  $2,666,666. 

There  values  are  in  the  gold  coin  of  Colombia. 

In  1890  the  exports  of  precious  metals  were  as  follows:  Gold, 
$3,600,000;  silver,  $830,000. 

Antioquia  is  the  richest  State  in  this  respect.  It  represents  in 
this  total  of  $4,430,000  no  less  than  $2,935,000.  The  State  of 
Cauca  comes  next  with  $750,000,  and  then  Telima  with  $625,000, 
Panama  with  $70,000,  Santander  with  $30,000,  and  Bolivar  with 
$20,000. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Near  Bucaramanga,  in  the  Republics  of  Colombia,  there  has 
recently  been  discovered  a  mineral  substance  not  unlike  asbestos. 
Sr.  D.  Eloy  Valenzuela,  a  distinguished  geologist,  has  given  this 
material  the  name  of  bucaramanquina.  It  is  the  color  of  amber, 
is  perfectly  transparent,  and  incombustible.  Experiments  now  be- 
ing made  in  Bogota  with  this  wonderful  material  indicate  that  it 
will  be  invaluable  for  the  manufacture  of  bank-note  paper  and 
otner  uses.  It  can  be  reduced  to  pulp  and  molded  into  light 
fire  and  water-proof  tiles  for  house  covering;  can  be  woven  in 
pliable  fire-proof  cloth  or  shaped  in  casques  suitable  for  firemen's 
wear.  A  white  varnish  can  also  be  extracted  from  this  substance, 
and  as  experiments  proceed  it  is  claimed  that  the  uses  to  which  it 


COLOMBIA.  49 

can  be  put  will  make  it  much  more  valuable  than  asbestos.  There 
appear  to  be  inexhaustible  deposits,  and  a  ready  market  is  prom- 
ised for  all  that  can  be  taken  out. 

Among  the  projects  for  railway  construction  in  Colombia  the 
line  to  connect  Medellin  in  Antioquia  with  the  river  Magdalena 
is  the  likeliest  to  be  carried  out.  This  railway  is  about  62  miles 
in  length,  of  which  25  are  already  constructed  and  in  working  order. 
It  starts  from  Puerto  Barrio  on  the  above  river,  traverses  a  marshy 
country,  and  then  goes  over  a  mountainous  region  to  Medellin. 
The  inhabitants  of  Antioquia  are  especially  interested  in  the  open- 
ing of  this  line  and  are  making  great  efforts  to  achieve  this  result. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  has  received  the  text  of  a 
contract  entered  into  between  the  Department  of  Antioquia,  Co- 
lombia, and  Messrs.  Osbina  Brothers  for  the  construction  of  a  nar- 
row gauge  railway  between  Medellin  and  Amaga  in  that  State. 
The  section  of  country  through  which  the  new  road  is  to  run  is 
very  rich  in  mineral  and  agricultural  wealth  that  is  right  at  hand, 
awaiting  the  development  which  this  work  promises.  The  rails 
and  sleepers  will  be  of  steel,  and  the  general  construction  of  the 
most  approved  style.  The  Government  guarantees  interest  at  the 
rate  of  6  per  cent  per  annum  on  the  cost  of  building  the  road.  As 
the  road  will  cross  the  Valle  and  Cauca  railways,  which  are  now 
in  operation,  there  is  no  doubt  of  its  being  able  to  enter  at  once 
into  a  paying  business  and  that  it  will  result  in  a  very  great  de- 
velopment of  the  outlying  country. 

Great  progress  is  being  made  in  the  construction  of  the  ocean 
pier  at  Puerto  Colombia,  the  new  seaport  5  miles  west  of  Savanilla, 
and  which  is  in  direct  communication  by  rail  with  Barranquilla. 
The  pier  when  finished  will  be  4,000  feet  long,  built  entirely  of 
iron  and  steel,  with  double  line  of  rails  its  whole  length,  and  depth 
of  water  sufficient  to  receive  alongside  the  largest  ships  afloat.  Six 
to  ten  ocean  steamers  can  be  moored  at  the  same  time,  and  by  means 
of  hydraulic  lifts  their  cargoes  can  be  quickly  and  economically 
Bull.  4.1 4 


50  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

handled.  Already  2,000  feet  have  been  finished,  and  the  pier  is 
actually  open  for  business  to  ships  drawing  22  feet  or  less. 

The  Government  of  Colombia  has  made  a  contract  with  M.  A. 
Fonseca  for  the  construction  of  a  canal  between  the  city  of  Bar- 
ranquilla  and  the  city  of  Savanilla,  in  order  that  the  boats  of  the 
Magdalena  River  may  be  sent  direct  to  the  anchorage  of  the 
ocean  steamships,  and  there  receive  and  discharge  their  cargoes. 
Barranquilla,  lying  at  the  mouth  of  the  Magdalena,  was  formerly 
the  principal  port  of  the  Republic,  but  the  river  having  formed 
a  large  bar  at  its  mouth  it  was  necessary  to  build  a  new  city  on 
that  bar,  which  is  called  Savanilla,  and  is  connected  with  the  old 
port  by  a  tramway. 

Senor  Dribbelaar  has  signed  a  contract  with  the  government 
of  the  State  of  Bolivar,  Colombia,  for  the  construction  of  a  rail- 
way between  Carmen  City  and  Port  Sambrano,  on  the  River  Mag- 
dalena. Senor  Dribbelaar  has  deposited  50,000  francs  in  the 
Colombian  legation  at  Paris  as  a  guaranty,  which  will  be  for- 
feited if  work  on  the  line  does  not  commence  within  three  months 
after  the  approval  of  the  contract. 

Work  on  the  railroad  which  is  to  connect  the  city  of  Cartagena 
with  the  Magdalena  River,  has  been  commenced  and  is  being 
rapidly  carried  on.  This  railroad  is  the  property  of  a  Boston  syn- 
dicate, headed  by  Mr.  T.  Jefferson  Coolidge,  who  was  one  of  the 
delegates  to  the  late  International  American  Conference.  The 
company  has  purchased  from  Messrs.  Vetez  &  Co.  the  Cartagena 
wharves  and  lighterage  system  for  the  sum  of  $70,000. 

The  Colombian  Government  has  given  a  subsidy  to  Senor  Don 
Jose  Bonnet  for  the  establishment  of  regular  steam  communica- 
tion on  the  Orinoco  and  its  branches  within  the  limits  of  the  Re- 
public of  Colombia.  He  is  to  receive  $3,200  for  each  round  trip 
from  the  head  of  navigation  to  Ciudad  Bolivar,  in  Venezuela. 
Mr.  Bonnet  has  received  a  similar  subsidy  from  the  Government 
of  Venezuela  for  establishing  steam  communication  on  the  lower 


COLOMBIA. 


portion  of  the  river,  and  his  enterprise  will  now  give  the  people  of 
Colombia  an  outlet  to  the  Atlantic  as  well  as  to  the  Caribbean 
Sea.  The  head  of  navigation  on  the  Orinoco  is  within  80  miles 
of  Bogota,  the  capital  of  Colombia. 

Senor  Bonnet  also  contracted  to  establish  three  agricultural  col- 
onies on  the  River  Meta,  in  Colombia,  each  to  begin  with  not  less 
than  ten  families  of  three  adults  each.  This  is  the  beginning  of  a 
development  of  the  rich  resources  of  the  eastern  regions  of  Colombia, 
which  have  never  been  touched  and  are  only  partially  explored. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  has  received  the  text 
of  a  contract  between  the  government  of  the  department  of  Panama 
and  Leon  Morenos,  by  which  the  latter  undertakes  to  establish  a 
line  of  steamers  between  the  province  of  Chiriqui  and  Panama. 
The  contractor  is  to  have  the  usual  exemption  from  port  and  other 
charges,  and  will  receive  $300  for  each  voyage.  The  sovereignty 
of  the  province  of  Chiriqui  has  been  in  dispute  between  Colombia 
and  Costa  Rica  for  a  long  time,  and  the  matter  was  submitted  to 
arbitration  by  the  treaty  of  1880,  but  has  not  been  decided. 

The  Queen  Regent  of  Spain,  having  been  appointed  umpire  in 
the  dispute  between  Colombia  and  Venezuela  over  the  boundary 
lines  between  those  two  Republics,  has  rendered  her  decision,  which 
is  entirely  in  favor  of  Colombia.  She  establishes  the  boundary 
lines  along  the  rivers  Orinoco,  Atabapo,  and  Rio  Negro,  which 
gives  Colombia  the  whole  of  the  Goajiro,  the  San  Faustino,  and 
the  Arauca  territories. 

Information  is  received  of  the  establishment  at  Bogota  of  a  rub- 
ber factory,  the  first  of  the  kind  in  Colombia,  at  which  rubber 
cloth,  ornamental  articles,  and  other  classes  of  goods  in  which  rub- 
ber is  used  will  be  manufactured. 

The  Government  of  Colombia  has  decided  to  have  an  expo- 
sition, which  will  be  opened  at  Bogota  on  the  anniversary  of  its 
independence,  the  20th  of  July,  1892.  A  decree  has  been  issued 
by  the   President,  calling  upon  the  governors  of  all  the  States  to 


52  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

organize  commissions  and  secure  full  exhibits  of  their  resources, 
industries,  and  products.  There  will  also  be  a  historical,  archae- 
ological, and  ethnological  section.  The  exposition  will  continue 
from  July  20,  1892,  through  August,  September,  and  October, 
when  everything  there  exhibited  will  be  sent  to  Chicago  as  an 
exhibit  from  the  Republic  of  Colombia. 


Costa  Rica. 


TRADE  WITH   UNITED  STATES. 

The  Consul-General  of  Germany  at  San  Jose,  Costa  Rica,  has 
made  an  official  report  to  his  Government  under  date  of  June  30, 
1891,  in  which  he  says: 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  extraordinary  endeavors  which  the  American 
industrial  world,  backed  up  by  the  Government,  is  making  to  increase  its  trade 
with  Spanish-American  countries  are  meeting  with  success.  The  difference  in 
price,  if  any,  is  more  than  compensated  for  by  the  attractive  and  handy  get  up 
of  American  goods.  Germany,  however,  plays  a  large  part  in  the  import 
trade  of  this  country,  having  supplied  $873,500  worth  of  merchandise  in  1890, 
as  against  $855,269  in  1889;  still,  our  trade  is  closely  pressed  by  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States.  Amongst  others,  Germany  predominates  in  the  follow- 
ing articles :  Beer,  barbed  wire,  woolen  cloth,  buckskins,  glassware  of  all  kinds, 
common  crockery,  toys,  furniture,  lamps,  mirrors,  jewelery,  half  silk  stuffs,  ready- 
made  men's  clothing,  leather,  cotton  trousering,  cotton  hosiery,  musical  instru- 
ments, cement,  and  of  late  enameled  sheet-iron  goods.  The  German,  Ameri- 
can, and  British  industrial  worlds  are  now  doing  their  level  best  to  crush  each 
other's  trade  in  ironware  of  all  kinds,  cotton  shirts,  underclothing,  biscuits,  pre- 
serves, and  the  like;  this  is  more  especially  the  case  as  regards  cotton  piece 
goods.  Cheap  calicoes  at  about  4  cents  per  yard,  and  common  handkerchiefs  can 
not  be  got  from  Germany  owing  to  the  great  distance ;  but  in  the  dearer  qual- 
ities we  compete  successfully.  Our  trade,  especially  in  calicoes,  would  be  largely 
increased  if  our  great  Mulhausen,  Augsburg,  Leipsic,  Elberfeld,  and  other  ex- 
port houses  would  adopt  the  press  system  of  packing  in  vogue  in  Manchester 
and  New  York.  Tallow  candles,  wrought  iron,  steel,  colors,  oils,  and  tin  plate 
(used  in  large  quantities)  are  obtained  from  Great  Britain.  Woolen  shirts,  woolen 
counterpanes,  woolen  and  half-woolen  piece  goods,  such  as  cashmeres  and  al- 
pacas, are  still  obtained  to  better  advantage  from  Great  Britain  as  regards  com- 
mon qualities,  the  better  class  of  merchandise  coming  from  Germany. 

53 


54  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

IMPORTS  OF  COSTA  RICA  IN  1890. 

The  total  value  of  goods  imported  into  Costa  Rica  during  189c 
in  the  money  of  the  country  was  $6,615,410,  divided  as  follows 

United  States $2,  255,  138  |  Ecuador $94,  020 

England 1,  426,  317  |  Cuba 61,  534 

Germany 1,  261,  798  I  Italy 35,  347 

France 773,  492  \  Jamaica 22,  259 

Colombia 268,  028  j  Belgium 13,  051 

Central  America 218,  721      Mexico 10,  5S6 

Spain 175,119! 

The  increase  of  imports  over  the  previous  year  was  $309,002 
and  the  exports  showed  an  increase  of  $3,098,394,  due  largely  t( 
the  increase  in  the  price  of  coffee,  the  exports  of  that  produci 
amounting  to  $9,196,202.  Other  exports  were:  Bananas 
$622,671;  hides,  $85,786;  cacao,  $13,267. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Since  the  completion  of  the  Costa  Rican  railway  the  price  o 
coffee  and  banana  lands  adjacent  to  the  lines  have  increased  frorr 
two  to  three  hundred  per  cent  in  value,  and  the  acreage  unde 
cultivation  has  very  nearly  doubled  within  the  last  year.  Sorm 
thirty  families  from  the  United  States  have  settled  on  the  line  o 
the  road  within  the  last  few  months  to  engage  in  the  cultivatior 
of  coffee,  bananas,  and  cocoanuts. 

Although  the  population  of  Costa  Rica  numbers  only  aboul 
250,000,  advices  received  indicate  that  the  rich  resources  of  the 
country  are  being  utilized  by  its  industrious  inhabitants.  There  wen 
in  1890  over  8,000  coffee  plantations  whose  product  of  333,36: 
quintals  was  valued  at  $7,500,000.  The  two  hundred  cocoa  grove: 
produced  3,244  quintals  of  cocoa,  worth  $162,000,  while  the  pro 
duction  of  the  sugar  estates  amounted  to  13,241  quintals  of  sugai 
and  1  J  1,296  quintals  of  molasses,  bringing,  respectively,  $185,  ]~~\ 
and  $1,512,906.     Bananas  have  become  a  very  important  article 


COSTA    RICA.  $$ 

of  growth,  over  1,000,000  bunches  having  been  sold,  realizing  about 
$400,000.  Altogether,  the  year  1890  was  a  very  prosperous  one 
for  the  agricultural  community. 

Official  notification  of  the  abolishment  of  the  wharf  charges  at 
Port  Limon,  Costa  Rica,  on  the  exportation  of  bananas,  fruits, 
vegetables,  and  alimentary  roots  has  been  received. 

The  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  has  renewed  its  contract  with  the 
Foxhall  Line  of  steamers  between  New  Orleans  and  Port  Limon 
for  four  years;  with  the  Kosmos  Line  of  Hamburg,  Germany,  for 
one  year;  and  with  the  Atlas  Line  of  steamers  and  the  Royal  Mail 
Steam  Packet  Company  for  five  years  each.  These  companies 
receive  no  subsidies  in  cash,  but  a  rebate  of  5  per  cent  is  given  on 
the  duties  charged  upon  merchandise  brought  by  them  to  the  ports 
of  Costa  Rica;  and  they  are  relieved  from  port  dues. 

A  cablegram  from  Costa  Rica  announces  that  the  Congress 
of  that  country  has  ratified  a  contract  made  between  the  Govern- 
ment and  a  railroad  syndicate  for  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from 
San  Jose  the  capital,  to  Puntarenas,  the  principal  Pacific  port. 
The  Government  guaranties  a  minimum  profit  of  5  per  cent  annu- 
ally on  the  total  cost  of  the  road  for  twenty-five  years,  the  cost 
being  estimated  at  $4,000,000.  The  completion  of  this  railroad 
is  very  important  not  only  to  Costa  Rica,  but  to  the  entire  world, 
for  it  will  furnish  immediate  competition  with  the  Panama  Rail- 
road. There  is  already  a  railroad  from  Port  Limon,  the  Atlantic 
port  of  Costa  Rica,  to  San  Jose,  the  capital,  and  the  completion 
of  the  line  to  Puntarenas  will  give  through  rail  transportation 
to  the  Pacific.  There  are  now  two  trans-isthmian  railways  under 
construction,  this  one  across  Costa  Rica  and  another  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Government  of  Mexico  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Tehuan tepee.  Two  other  rival  roads  have  been  surveyed,  one 
across  the  Republic  of  Honduras,  a  district  of  210  miles,  of  which 
37  miles  is  already  constructed  and  in  operation,  and  one  across 
the   Republic  of  Guatemala  for  the  construction  of  which  the 


56  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Government  of  that  country  is  endeavoring  to  secure  a  loan  in 
England. 

The  Costa  Rican  Government  has  appointed  Anastasio  Alfaro 
as  superintendent  of  the  national  museum  of  Costa  Rica,  re- 
cently established  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  all  sorts  of  archae- 
logical  specimens  and  curiosities  of  a  historical  character,  which 
will  be  exhibited  at  the  exposition  in  Madrid  and  then  transferred 
as  a  whole  to  the  Columbian  Exposition  at  Chicago.  Persons 
who  do  not  wish  to  dispose  of  the  articles  they  may  possess  are 
invited  to  loan  them  to  the  museum,  which  will  give  bonds  for 
their  safe  return  after  their  exhibition. 

On  the  31st  of  October,  1891,  the  Hon.  Richard  Cutts  Shan- 
non was  received  by  the  President  of  Costa  Rica,  who  expressed 
himself  very  much  gratified  at  the  sending  of  a  minister  especially 
charged  to  the  three  countries  of  Costa  Rica,  Salvador,  and  Nica- 
ragua. 

The  Latin  American  Department  of  the  World's  Columbian 
Exposition  has  heard  from  Lieut.  Scriven  that  Senora  Dolores 
de  Troye,  of  Cartago,  Costa  Rica,  is  going  to  send  to  the  ex- 
position her  valuable  and  well-known  collection  of  antiquities, 
which  she  has  placed  at  the  disposition  of  the  Costa  Rican  Gov- 
ernment for  this  purpose. 

The  census  of  Costa  Rica,  which  will  be  taken  on  the  18th  of 
February,  1892,  will  show,  by  means  of  blanks  put  in  the  hands 
of  every  householder  beforehand,  the  exact  state  of  the  population 
of  the  Republic  on  that  day.  The  most  important  particulars  are 
sex,  age,  moral  condition,  occupation,  profession,  capacity  to  read 
and  write,  etc. 

Senor  Lizano,  the  minister  of  public  works  of  the  Republic 
of  Costa  Rica,  assures  the  special  commissioner  of  the  World's 
Fair,  now  in  that  country,  that  the  Government  of  Costa  Rica 
will  spend  $150,000  on  its  exhibit  at  the  Chicago  Exhibition. 


COSTA    RICA.  57 

COFFEE  CULTURE. 

[Federico  Peralta,  in  the  Scientific  American.] 

Costa  Rica  is  one  of  the  five  Central  American  Republics.  It 
is  bounded  on  the  northeast  by  the  future  Nicaragua  Canal,  on  the 
southeast  by  the  United  States  of  Colombia,  on  the  northeast  by 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  by  the  Pacific  Ocean  on  the  southwest. 

The  area  of  the  country  is  37,000  square  miles,  and  its  popula- 
tion was,  in  1890,  216,756  inhabitants.  Now  about  300,000  are 
calculated.  Costa  Rica  has  the  most  delightful  and  favorable  cli- 
mate, not  only  for  the  growth  of  coffee,  but  for  every  kind  of  cul- 
ture.    Its  temperature  through  the  year  is  from  650  to  700  F. 

The  country  may  be  divided,  according  to  its  climate,  into  three 
different  zones : 

I.  The  "hot  zone,"  running  from  the  sea  level  to  the  altitude  of 
3,000  feet,  where  most  of  the  virgin  forests  are  found.  It  is  the 
hottest  in  the  country.  The  mean  temperature  is  from  72 °  to 
820  F. 

II.  The  "temperate  zone,"  in  which  agriculture  is  chiefly  prac- 
ticed and  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  center  of  population  and 
commerce. 

III.  The  "cold  zone,"  6,000  feet  of  altitude,  where  the  ther- 
mometer sometimes  falls  below  freezing  point. 

Properly  speaking,  there  are  but  two  seasons,  summer,  or  dry 
season,  and  winter,  or  wet  season.  The  former  is  from  November 
to  April  or  May,  and  it  differs  from  the  latter  by  the  absence  of 
rainfall. 

Coffee  plantations  are  chiefly  cultivated  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
capital,  San  Jose  (altitude  3,71 1  feet  above  sea  level),  in  the  prov- 
inces of  Cartago  (4,633  feet),  Heredia  (3,655  feet),  and  Alajuela 
(2,950  feet). 

The  largest  coffee  plantations  are  to  be  found  in  Heredia  and 
in  Santo  Domingo.     Nature  seems  to  have  particularly  favored 


58  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

the  lands  of  Costa  Rica.  There  are  indeed  few  countries  in  either 
continent  possessing  so  much  fertile  soil  as  this  small  Republic. 

A  single  fact  among  hundreds  may  prove  this  statement.  The 
first  coffee  seeds  sown  a  century  ago  in  the  Province  of  Cartago 
were  introduced  from  Havana;  the  old  trunks  from  which  seeds 
were  distributed  to  the  other  Central  American  Republics  are  seen 
yet,  and,  as  the  writer  was  told,  they  are  producing  perhaps  as  much 
fruit  as  when  they  were  young.  Meanwhile,  in  Brazil  fifty  to  sixty 
year  old  trees  are  seen  as  a  curiosity. 

Mr.  Biolley,  in  his  very  interesting  work  on  "  Costa  Rica  and 
her  Future"  (Judd  &  Detweiler,  Washington,  D.  C,  1889),  says  •' 

Almost  everywhere  in  Costa  Rica  the  land  is  found  to  have  most  favorable 
conditions  for  recompensing  labor,  admirably  watered  by  streams,  often  naviga- 
ble, and  wooded  with  species  of  the  most  valuable  and  useful  trees. 

The  alluvial  lands  of  ferruginous  clay  and  silico-argillaceous  lands  predominate. 
All  over  the  central  plateau  the  vegetable  stratum  is  of  a  remarkable  depth. 

COFFEE    PLANT. 

Coffee  Arabica  is  the  species  grown  in  Costa  Rica.  There  is 
also  the  "Grecia"  coffee,  but  it  is  not  very  much  cultivated.  It 
is  found  in  the  northeast  part  of  the  central  plateau.  This  shrub 
is  shorter  than  the  precedent,  and  its  branches  are  somewhat  more 
compact  and  numerous  than  the  former. 

Some  years  since  "Liberia"  coffee  was  introduced,  and  its  cul- 
tivation seems  to  extend  throughout  the  Republic. 

When  the  shrub  (Coffee  Arabica)  is  four  years  old  it  has  reached 
the  full  amount  of  production.  Then  it  is  from  6  to  8  feet  high. 
It  blossoms  in  April  or  May,  and  if  it  should  rain  when  the  flow- 
ers have  "set,"  a  shower  will  be  of  great  benefit  for  the  future  crop. 
Irrigation  is  sometimes  practiced  when  the  season  is  too  dry.  Very 
good  results  have  been  obtained  by  watering  the  plantation  artifi- 
cially. 

The  berry,  in  the  first  days  of  its  existence,  is  of  a  dark  green 
color,  changing  to  a  yellow  red,  and  finally  to  crimson. 


COSTA    RICA.  £9 

When  the  berries  have  become  crimson  they  are  then  quite  ripe, 
and  harvesting  must  begin,  else  the  berries  will  turn  black.  The 
external  envelope  will  contract  on  itself  and  the  fruit  fall  to  the 
ground. 

PLANTING NURSERY    BEDS SPACES. 

Every  one  knows  that  coffee  is  propagated  by  seeds.  For  that 
purpose  a  space  is  chosen  in  the  same  plantation,  varying  in  size 
according  to  the  number  of  seedlings  wanted. 

When  the  soil  has  been  loosened  and  cultivated  and  cleared  from 
weeds,  stones,  etc.,  the  seeding  is  done,  covered  with  soil  enough 
to  cover  the  seeds.  Leaves  are  spread  on  that  piece  of  ground, 
which  will  act  as  mulch  to  hinder  the  evaporation  of  water  and  to 
keep  the  soil  as  moist  and  cool  as  possible,  so  that  the  seedling 
will  start  freely. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  young  plant's  growth,  great  care 
must  be  given  to  it.  Weeds  are  not  allowed  to  grow,  lest  they  should 
become,  in  a  short  time,  larger  than  the  coffee  plant,  and  would 
hinder  its  development. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  or  before,  they  are  transplanted  to  their 
permanent  place  in  the  estate  or  are  sold.  In  the  former  case, 
the  holes  are  dug  to  receive  the  young  plants.  When  these  are 
removed  from  the  nursery  bed,  some  earth  is  left  around  the  roots,  and 
this  ball  of  earth  is  covered  with  banana  skins,  to  keep  it  moist. 
The  same  thing  is  done  when  the  plants  are  to  be  sold. 

The  space  left  between  the  shrubs  varies  somewhat.  Generally, 
they  are  left  10  feet  apart,  so  that  400  to  435  trees  cover  an  acre 
of  land. 

culture. 

As  has  been  said,  weeds  grow  very  rapidly,  because  of  the  great 
fertility  of  the  country.  So  a  great  deal  of  labor  is  needed  to  keep 
the  gardens  free  from  weeds.  The  weeding  is  done  by  hand  labor. 
Each  workman  is  provided  with  a  large  sharp  shovel,  with  which 


60  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

he  cuts  down  the  weeds,  taking  some  loose  earth  and  heaping  it 
around  the  trunk  to  form  low  ridges.  The  earth  serves  to  cover 
the  weeds  and  hasten  their  decomposition.  This  operation  is  called 
in  the  country  "aporca,"  and  it  is  done  from  May  to  June.  Dur- 
ing the  winter  months  the  operation  is  reversed.  The  ridges,  built 
up  in  summer,  are  now  spread  out  between  the  rows  of  coffee. 
This  operation  is  called  "  desaporca."  Again,  the  "  aporca  "  is  done 
before  harvesting,  in  order  to  have  the  ground  clean  and  to  facili- 
tate the  picking  up  of  the  berries  that  fall  down  during  the  har- 
vesting. 

Finally,  the  "desaporca"  comes  again  after  the  crop  has  been 
harvested.  Once  a  year,  as  a  general  rule,  the  plantation  is  plowed, 
but  only  on  one  side  of  the  rows,  the  other  side  of  the  row  being 
left  for  the  plowing  in  the  next  year. 

Some  writers  have,  perhaps,  exaggerated  in  saying  that  the  cul- 
tivation of  coffee  suffers  very  much  in  Costa  Rica  from  the  want 
of  labor.  This  assertion  may  be  true  to  some  extent,  and  immi- 
gration is  doubtless  very  much  required  for  the  prosperity  of  the 
country,  not  only  in  respect  to  agriculture,  but  to  other  forms  of 
industry. 

MANURE. 

The  fertility  of  the  estate  is  kept  up  in  different  ways. 

In  weeding,  the  furrows  are  not  only  made  for  the  sake  of  cov- 
ering the  weeds,  but  also  to  prevent  the  washing  of  the  surface  soil. 
Holes  that  are  3  to  4  feet  square  are  dug  between  every  four  or 
more  trees.  These  holes  are  left  open.  So  that  when  it  rains  the 
alluvial  soil,  which  would  otherwise  be  washed  away  when  sloped* 
is  retained.  When  they  have  become  filled  up,  the  contents  are 
spread  around  the  shrubs. 

Among  the  natural  fertilizers,  green  manure  may  be  cited.  Farm- 
yard manure  is  very  much  employed,  producing  very  good  results. 
Composts  of  pulp,  husk,  banana  skins,  and  all  the  refuse  from  the 
curing  of  the  coffee  serves  as  fertilizant  materials. 


COSTA    RICA.  6l 

If  we  regard  irrigation  as  a  fertilizer,  it  should  be  mentioned  in 
this  classification.  Irrigating  water  is  sometimes  mixed  with  pulp, 
and  with  the  "  honey "  of  the  coffee. 

Some  planters  import  Peruvian  guano,  recognizing  its  great 
merits  as  a  coffee  fertilizer.  It  is  applied  in  most  cases  in  circular 
ditches,  dug  at  9  or  10  inches  distance  from  the  trunk  of  the  trees 
to  a  depth  of  3  or  4  inches ;  4  to  6  ounces  of  guano  are  spread  in 
each  ditch,  and  covered  with  the  soil  which  was  taken  from  it. 

To  fertilize  an  acre  of  land,  125  to  150  pounds  of  Peruvian 
guano  are  needed,  as  the  coffee  gardens  are  not  manured  every 
year  with  guano.  Some  planters  are  accustomed  to  apply  it  twice 
a  year. 

SHADE. 

In  order  to  prevent  the  coffee  flowers  from  being  damaged  by 
the  sun's  rays,  experience  has  proved  that  the  coffee  tree  should 
not  be  left  without  shade.  For  that  purpose  banana  trees  are 
planted  between  each  third  or  fourth  row  of  coffee  trees.  Besides 
bananas,  many  other  trees  are  planted,  which,  with  their  large 
branches,  cover  much  ground.  Several  species  of  acacia  have 
proved  to  be  beneficial  in  the  plantations  of  coffee  or  "  cafetales," 
Poro,  juiquininquil,  etc.,  are  grown  among  the  shrubs,  and  some 
of  them  bear  excellent  fruit  crops. 

PRUNING 

is  performed  in  order  to  let  air  and  light  circulate  freely  among 
the  trees,  to  facilitate  their  development  and  to  obtain  the  largest 
possible  crop.  Not  every  planter  in  Costa  Rica  is  agreed  as  to 
the  best  method  of  pruning.  Some  of  them  think  that  no  branches 
other  than  those  which  are  dead  should  be  cut  off,  while  the 
majority  know  that  great  benefits  may  be  derived  from  a  judicious 
pruning,  and  that  the  future  crop  may  be  vastly  increased.  The 
latter  not  only,cut  off  the  dead  branches,  but  also  those  that  appear 


62  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

to  be  half  dead.  When  the  suckers  become  numerous  a  part  are 
cut  off.  When  the  trees  are  5  or  6  feet  high  they  are  "  topped  * 
to  prevent  them  from  growing  out  of  reach.  This  operation  is 
performed  by  pinching  off  the  two  new  leaves  which  form  the  top 
of  the  tree.  When  the  "  top  "  is  destroyed,  the  shrub  tends  to 
throw  out  side  branches,  and  remains  at  such  a  height  that  the 
gathering  of  the  fruit  is  facilitated.  Finally,  the  tree  is  "  handled  "" 
after  each  crop  to  remove  the  dry  wood,  vegetable  mosses,  and 
parasites,  and  also  to  prepare  for  the  next  year's  crop. 

DISEASES    AND    ENEMIES. 

Few  or  no  diseases  are  known  in  Costa  Rican  coffee  planta- 
tions. Isolated  cases  have  been  reported  where  the  leaves  become 
brownish  and  soon  after  fall  down.  This  disease  is  caused  by  a 
fungus  known  as  "  Depazea  maculosa  of  Berkeley,"  and  the  dis- 
ease itself  is  called  "  Mancha  de  hierro."  Among  the  enemies 
are  the  clusia  ihsignis,  called  in  the  republic  "  matapalo,"  which 
must  be  carfully  destroyed,  for  it  would  kill  the  shrubs.  The 
others  are  vegetable  mosses,  lichens,  weeds,  etc. 

HARVEST. 

It  has  been  calculated  that  in  1890,  on  8,130  coffee  estates* 
there  were  26,558,251  coffee  shrubs.  Each  tree  produces  from 
1  to  2  pounds,  not  infrequently  5  or  6  pounds  of  coffee  in  "  oro," 
that  is  to  say,  ready  for  market. 

Harvesting  begins  as  soon  as  the  cherries  are  quite  ripe,  usually 
from  November  to  February.  Sometimes  the  berries  do  not 
ripen  all  together,  in  which  event  a  second  harvest  is  needed. 

The  gathering  of  coffee  is  done  by  men,  women,  and  children. 
To  each  one  a  basket  of  the  capacity  of  1  9  to  18  quarts  is  given. 
I  have  seen  myself  coffee  pickers  to  fill  their  basket  from  ten  to 
twelve  times  a  day  if  the  crop  is  good,  and  to  get  for  each  basketful 
10  to  30  cents,  so  that  coffee  gathering  may  produce  to  them 


COSTA    RICA. 


63 


from  $1  to  over  $3.  In  payment,  money  is  not  given,  but 
"  tokens  "  which  represent  the  value  above  stated.  On  Saturday 
evening  or  Sunday  morning  these  tokens  are  changed  to  current 
money. 

The  harvesting  is  performed  methodically.  A  man  who  takes 
care  of  the  crop  assigns  to  the  "  cafeteros  "  those  trees  which  must 
be  picked  first.  The  pickers  can  not  change  from  place  to  place 
as  they  would  like  until  they  have  picked  the  trees  designated  by 
the  "  mandador,"  the  man  in  charge. 

In  the  evening,  an  ox  cart  is  driven  to  the  places  where  the 
picking  is  going  on,  in  order  to  get  the  coffee  which  has  been 
gathered  during  the  day. 

PREPARATION    OF    THE    BERRIES. 

As  soon  as  all  the  coffee  has  been  "  entregado  "  it  is  carted  im- 
mediately to  the  factory  and  thrown  into  a  brick  tank  which  is 
larger  or  smaller  according  to  the  size  of  the  plantation.  It  is 
large  enough  to  hold  as  much  coffee  as  can  be  picked  in  a  day. 
Water  enough  is  run  in  to  thoroughly  cover  the  berries,  which 
are  allowed  to  soak  for  a  short  time ;  then  from  this  first  tank  the 
berries  are  conveyed  to  the  pulper  through  a  channel,  by  means  of 
water. 

PULPING 

consists  in  the  separation  of  the  beans  from  the  pulp  in  which 
they  were  enveloped  by  means  of  the  "  pulper,"  which  is  a  ma- 
chine composed  of  an  iron  cylinder  covered  by  a  sheet  of  copper, 
having  its  surface  toothed.  At  a  convenient  distance  from  this 
cylinder  there  is  a  piece  of  iron,  placed  in  such  a  way  that  no  bean 
can  pass  through  this  part  of  the  machine  and  the  cylinder  with- 
out being  squeezed.  The  bruised  beans  pass  through  the  teeth 
of  the  machine,  while  the  pulp  falls  to  one  side.  The  pulp  is 
carefully  gathered  and  piled  up  in  heaps,  where  it  ferments. 
Finally  it  is  utilized  as  a  manure  for  coffee  and  sugar  cane. 


64  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

The  beans  coming  from  the  pulper  are  covered  by  a  parchment- 
like membrane  and  saccharine  matter.  If  these  are  not  removed 
from  the  berries,  they  will  dry  easily  or  rot.  For  this  reason  a 
special  fermentation  is  needed. 

FERMENTATION. 

From  the  pulper,  water  conveys  the  husked  beans  to  a  tank 
filled  with  water.  During  the  whole  time  the  beans  remain  in 
this  tank  they  are  frequently  agitated  with  wooden  rakes,  to  wash 
out  the  saccharine  matter  and  any  pieces  of  pulp  that  may  have 
escaped  the  action  of  the  pulper. 

The  light  berries,  together  with  pieces  of  pulp,  leaves,  etc., 
float  upon  the  surface  and  are  skimmed  off,  while  the  good  berries 
remain  at  the  bottom  of  the  tank. 

This  tank  is  made  of  brick  and  cement ;  it  has  at  its  lowest  part 
a  sluice  door,  from  which,  by  means  of  cars  or  channels,  coffee  is 
carried  to  the  drying  floors  or  "  patios."  The  patios  are  generally 
square,  flat,  built  of  rammed  stone  and  cemented  at  the  surface. 
These  are  made  to  slope  slightly,  so  that  water  may  drain  away. 

DRYING 

is  one  of  the  most  important  operations  in  the  preparation  of  coffee, 
because,  if  it  were  allowed  to  become  too  dry,  it  would  lose  weight 
and  contract  upon  itself  and  present  a  nonattractive  appearance. 
If  too  wet,  the  coffee  would  become  mouldy  and  be  spoiled. 

The  beans  coming  from  the  tank  are  spread  on  the  "patios"  to 
a  depth  of  2  to  3  inches,  and  are  left  there  drying,  but  are  con- 
stantly turned  over  with  light  rakes  into  rows,  in  order  that  the 
drying  be  slow.  The  time  of  drying  depends  on  the  weather.  If 
it  rains,  the  beans  are  heaped  and  covered  with  canvas.  When 
the  beans  are  perfectly  dry,  as  is  known  by  the  fact  that  they  can 
not  be  dented  with  the  finger  nail,  and  that  they  crack  between  the 
teeth  instead  of  tearing,  they  are  fit  to  be  stored  or  peeled. 


COSTA    RICA.  65 

PEELING    OR     HULLING. 

has  for  its  object  the  removal  of  the  parchment  skin  that  is  still  ad- 
herent to  the  dry  bean. 

To  perform  this  operation,  the  beans  are  thrown  into  a  circular 
basin  with  a  broad  channel  or  groove.  Two  or  more  wooden  or 
stone  wheels,  moved  by  oxen  or  by  water  power,  run  in  this  circu- 
lar groove,  which  has  been  filled  half  or  three-quarters  full  with 
dry  beans. 

In  the  center  of  the  basin,  or  "trilla,"  an  axis  is  fastened  to  the 
ground.  From  this  two  or  more  horizontal  bars  serve  to  move 
the  wheels,  which  are  kept  running  until  all  the  dry  beans  have 
been  separated  from  their  parchment  cover. 

From  the  "  trilla,"  coffee  husks  and  dust  are  put  into  bags  and 
thrown  into  a  winnowing  machine.  The  husks  are  blown  out  by 
the  current  of  air,  while  the  coffee  falling  down  passes  through  dif- 
ferent sieves.  The  uppermost  sieves  have  round  holes,  which 
allow  the  sand,  smaller  beans,  and  stones  to  pass  through,  while 
the  larger  beans  are  retained.  The  second  sieve  has  holes  small 
enough  to  permit  the  sand  and  very  small  gravel  to  get  through, 
but  not  the  perfect  coffee  beans,  which  fall  by  the  front  part  of  the 
machine,  where  they  are  bagged.  The  dust  takes  another  way, 
passing  free  from  any  bean,  through  one  of  the  sides  of  the  fan. 

There  is  yet  another  skin,  called  "  silver  skin,"  that  must  be 
removed.  The  operation  is  the  same  as  for  peeling,  but  with 
lighter  wooden  wheels. 

This  old  fashion  of  removing  the  silver  skin  by  means  of  wheels 
has  been  changed  by  a  machine  composed  of  two  cylinders,  having 
their  surface  roughened  and  moving  in  a  contrary  direction,  the 
results  being  better  and  economy  of  labor. 

The  coffee,  as  it  comes  from  this  machine,  goes  to  the  "  puli- 
dor,"  for  it  needs  to  be  separated  into  various  sizes  for  market. 
Bull.  41 5 


66 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


The  machine  which  performs  this  classification  is  called  "  clasi- 
ficador." 

It  is  composed  of  a  long  horizontal  cylindrical  sieve  formed  of 
galvanized  or  steel  wire,  divided  into  sections  of  different  meshes. 
A  very  strong  brush  of  the  same  length,  but  smaller,  lies  against 
and  turns  with  the  cylindrical  sieve,  so  as  to  prevent  the  coffee  from 
choking  the  meshes. 

The  "  clasificador "  is  run  by  hand  or  by  hydraulic  power. 

In  the  first  section,  the  sand  and  dust  fall  down,  in  the  next  the 
small  and  broken  beans,  in  the  third  large  beans,  while  in  the  last 
the  largest  beans  are  delivered.  The  so-called  "  pea  berry  "  rolls 
freely  in  each  section  till  it  gets  to  the  end  of  the  sieve,  where  it 
falls  down. 

The  coffee  from  each  division  is  gathered  apart  and  forms  the 
first,  second,  and  third  classes,  and  pea  berry,  or  "  caracolillo." 

After  this  mechanical  sorting,  coffee  passes  through  women's 
hands,  who  pick  up  and  separate  small  stones,  light  coffee,  foreign 
seeds,  etc. 

This  work  is  done  on  tables  made  specially  for  this  purpose, 
"  sorting  tables."  The  coffee  coming  from  these  tables  is  ready  and 
bagged  in  sacks  containing  about  130  pounds  each  and  shipped. 

STATISTICS. 

The  exportation  of  coffee  in  the  follows  years  was : 


Year. 


1886 

1887 

1888 

1890     

Total 


Exported. 

Value. 

Pounds. 

Dollars. 

19,931,214 

2,  259,  263 

28,852,  177 

5,  231,  766 

22,  745.  502 

4.  742,  253 

33,  924,  675 

9,  196,  202 

105,453.568 


21,429,484 


I 


COSTA    RICA. 


67 


The  crop  of  the  year  1888  was  distributed  between  the  follow- 
ing countries : 


Countries. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

England 

• 

Pounds. 

13,507,818 

6,  862,  367 

1,  304,  860 

860,  575 

209,  882 

Dollars. 
2,  859,  896 

i,  395,  920 

279. 763 

165,  002 
41,672 

United  States 

Germany 

France 

South  America 

Total 

22,  745,  502 

4,  742,  253 

In  1887,  284,454  pounds  of  coffee,  having  a  value  of  $51,590, 
were  exported  from  Costa  Rica  to  Boston.  The  average  price 
was  a  little  over  18  cents  a  pound;  while  in  London  market 
Costa  Rican  coffee  sells  at  92^.  to  130J.  the  hundred  weight;  mean- 
while the  best  Javan  costs  only  90J.  to  iooj-.;  the  Mexican,  65 j.  to 
84^. 

Costa  Rica's  coffee  is  said  to  be  unsurpassed  in  strength  as  well 
as  in  aromatic  flavor  by  the  eastern  growths.  Its  preparation  is  so 
good  that  it  competes  in  the  English  market  with  that  of  Java, 
Molucca,  and  with  the  best  known  grades. 

What  better  proof  can  we  have  of  the  goodness  and  superiority 
of  Costa  Rica  coffee  than  the  fact  that  in  the  Paris  Universal  Ex- 
hibition of  1889  it  obtained  the  "Grand  Prix4?" 


Ecuador. 


EXPOSITION  IN  QUITO. 

There  will  be  held  a  grand  exposition  in  Quito,  Ecuador,  dur- 
ing the  months  of  September,  October,  and  November  1 892.  The 
exposition  will  afford  an  opportunity  for  the  display  of  American 
manufactures  in  a  market  that  is  now  practically  unoccupied ;  par- 
ticularly is  this  so  in  respect  of  the  smaller  articles  of  agricultural 
implements,  in  which  the  genius  of  the  people  of  this  country  have 
made  so  great  progress.  Axes  are  unknown  in  that  country,  the 
natives  using  the  machetes  or  long  cane  knives  for  the  felling 
purposes.  Hoes,  rakes,  spades,  small  hand  mills,  plows,  cultivators, 
and  all  the  other  articles  exhibited  in  such  great  profusion  at  agri- 
cultural fairs,  if  sent  to  Quito  under  the  charge  of  persons  com- 
petent to  explain  the  manner  in  which  they  are  used,  would 
doubtless  open  the  way  to  a  large  and  remunerative  trade. 

Manufacturers  of  light,  but  strong  wagons,  harness,  etc.,  will 
find  here  a  practically  open  field  that  by  proper  presentation  may 
be  made  to  yield  handsome  and  increasing  profits. 

The  authorities  in  Ecuador  would  be  particularly  pleased  to  see 
at  this  exposition  a  compact  but  comprehensive  collection  of  labor- 
saving  and  improved  agricultural  implements. 

Further  details  as  to  the  exposition  which  will  be  held  by  the 
Republic  of  Ecuador  at  Quito  have  been  received.  This  exposi- 
tion will  offer  to  American  manufacturers  of  agricultural  imple- 
ments and  machinery,  tools,  hardware,  sewing  machines,  rubber 
goods,  notions,  etc.,  an  opportunity  to  make  their  wares  known  in 


ECUADOR.  69 

Ecuador,  where  a  good  market  could  probably  be  obtained,  as  the 
country  has  just  entered  upon  a  period  of  progress.  Manufac- 
turers should  act  in  concert  in  getting  up  their  exhibits,  which 
should  be  small  but  carefully  selected  and  assorted,  and  in  the 
hands  of  one  or  two  competent  men  who  speak  Spanish.  As  the 
goods  sent  for  exhibition  will  have  to  cross  the  Andes  to  reach 
Quito,  they  should  be  carefully  packed,  with  a  view  to  being 
transported  on  pack  mules.  Packages  should,  if  possible, 
weigh  not  more  than  100  pounds,  the  load  for  a  mule  being  200 
pounds.  From  January  until  May  it  takes  about  two  weeks  to 
transport  goods  from  Guayaquil  to  Quito.  Mr.  William  B. 
Sorsby,  the  consul-general  of  the  United  States  at  Quito,  has 
informed  the  State  Department  that  the  Government  of  Ecuador 
has  decided  that  agricultural  machinery  and  implements,  the 
manufacture  of  the  United  States,  which  are  to  be  exhibited  at 
the  exposition  there,  may  be  introduced  into  Ecuador  and  carried 
to  Quito  free  of  customs  duties  for  one  year,  with  the  privilege  of 
return  if  the  said  machinery  and  implements  are  not  sold,  in  which 
latter  case  the  duties  must  be  paid. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

At  the  request  of  the  President  of  the  Republic,  the  archbishop 
of  Ecuador  has  issued  an  order  to  the  bishops  and  priests  through- 
out the  entire  Republic  directing  them  to  collect  and  forward  to 
Quito  any  and  everything  which  may  be  in  their  keeping  illus- 
trative of  the  history  of  the  country  suitable  to  exhibit  at  Chicago. 
The  archbishop  also  requests  the  priests  to  send  in  to  Quito  any 
and  everything  which  they  may  find  illustrative  of  the  wealth  and 
products  of  Ecuador. 

The  President  of  Ecuador  has  decreed  the  admission,  free  of 
duty,  both  import  and  export,  of  all  exhibits  which  may  be  sent 
from  the  United  States  to  the  National  Exposition  to  be  held  in 
Quito  during  the   months  of  February,  March,  and   April,  1892. 


70  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

It  is  especially  desired  that  the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States 
should  send  a  good  exhibit  of  agricultural  machinery  and  all 
implements  for  agricultural  purposes  to  this  exposition,  as  it  is 
believed  a  good  market  will  be  opened  in  that  country  to  our 
manufacturers.  Every  possible  facility  will  be  given  to  transport 
any  exhibits  which  may  be  sent  from  the  sea  to  the  capital,  and 
goods  will  take  precedence  over  ordinary  merchandise,  and  rates 
charged  therefore  will  be  greatly  reduced. 

In  Ecuador  the  year  1890  was  a  very  "prosperous  one,  owing 
principally  to  the  large  cocoa  harvest,  which  was  the  richest  ever 
gathered  in  the  country.  Other  products  have  shown  very  favor- 
able results,  the  coffee  crop  also  being  larger  than  any  previous 
year,  and  the  prices  ranged  much  higher  than  the  average.  The 
exports  of  rubber  and  cinchona  bark  show  a  small  increase,  and 
900  tons  of  sugar  have  been  exported  to  Europe.  Increased 
attention  has  been  paid  in  Ecuador  to  the  cultivation  of  the  sugar 
cane,  and  plantations  and  mills  have  been  started  on  larger  scales 
than  at  present  exist  in  the  country.  The  total  exports  for  1890 
exceeded  by  36  per  cent  the  value  of  the  exports  of  1889 — 
the  largest  increase  being  in  cocoa,  40  per  cent;  coffee,  22  per 
cent,  and  cinchona  bark,  26  per  cent.  The  statistics  of  imports 
have  not  yet  been  published. 

ADJUSTMENT  OF  FOREIGN  DEBT. 

By  the  readjustment  of  the  foreign  debt  of  Ecuador  on  the  plan 
of  settlement  which  the  London  creditors  have  agreed  to,  the  bond- 
holders will  receive  for  every  ^1,000  the  sum  of  ^400  in  new 
bonds,  bearing  interest  at  the  rate  of  4^  per  cent  for  fifteen  years. 
With  every  ^400  of  new  bonds  they  will  also  receive  twelve  shares 
of  £5  each  in  the  New  National  Railway  of  Ecuador,  which  has 
partially  been  constructed.  The  holders  of  these  shares  are  entitled 
to  one-half  the  profits  of  the  line,  the  other  half  going  to  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

Information  has  been,  received  of  the  final  adjustment  of  the 
debt  of  Ecuador,  which  has  been  pending  for  several  years. 


ECUADOR.  71 

decree  of  President  Flores,  on  the  2d  of  December,  gives  effect 
to  the  arrangement  entered  into  with  the  foreign  bondholders,  and 
is  as  follows : 

Article  1.  From  1st  June,  1892,  the  custom-houses  of  the  Republic  will  col- 
lect the  10  per  cent  charged  on  the  import  duties. 

Art.  2.  The  collectorship  of  the  Guayaquil  custom-house  will  every  fortnight 
hand  over  to  Senor  Don  George  Chambers,  representative  of  the  council  of 
foreign  bondholders,  the  product  of  this  charge ;  and  the  custom-houses  of 
other  ports  will  remit  to  the  same  fortnightly  by  the  first  post  the  amount  col- 
lected by  them  for  account  of  the  said  10  per  cent. 

Art.  3.  Every  six  months  an  account  of  the  amounts  handed  to  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  council  of  foreign  bondholders  will  be  taken,  with  the  object 
of  making  up  any  deficiency  that  may  exist  up  to  the  full  sum  of  ^16,875,  cor- 
responding to  each  half  year  during  the  first  five  years. 

Art.  4.  The  minister  of  finance  and  the  superintendent  of  customs  shall  be 
charged  with  the  duty  of  carrying  out  this  decree,  and  the  minister  of  foreign 
affairs  will  communicate  the  contents  thereof  to  the  foreign  diplomatic  and 
consular  bodies  in  the  Republic,  as  well  as  its  agents  abroad. 

Given  at  the  Government  Palace  in  Quito,  December  2,  1891. 

A.  Flores. 

A  parcels  post  treaty  has  just  been  celebrated  between  Ecuador 
and  England,  whereby  packages  up  to  12  pounds  may  be  ex- 
changed through  the  medium  of  the  post,  the  charges  being  as 
follows :  Three  pounds  shall  pay  3^.  yd.,  4  to  7  pounds  will  pay 
(js.  6d.,  and  8  to  1 2  pounds  will  be  js.  yd. 

The  income  of  the  Government  of  Ecuador  from  customs  dues 
in  1890  amounted  to  $2,261,250. 

The  Governments  of  Colombia  and  Ecuador,  in  order  to  en- 
courage transportation  and  trade  between  the  two  countries,  have 
entered  into  a  reciprocity  treaty  providing  that  goods  imported 
from  one  country  to  the  other  by  land  shall  be  advanced  through 
the  custom-houses  free  of  duty. 

By  a  recent  census  the  city  of  Guayaquil,  Ecuador,  was  found 
to  have  44,515  inhabitants. 


Guatemala. 


TRANSPORTATION  FACILITIES. 

The  Government  of  Guatemala  has  entered  into  a  contract  with 
the  Kosmos  Steamship  Company  for  the  establishment  of  a  line 
of  steamers  to  sail  monthly  each  way  between  the  ports  of  Guate- 
mala and  Hamburg,  Germany.  The  steamers  are  to  be  of  not 
less  than  1,500  tons  capacity.  The  following  are  the  names  of 
the  vessels  engaged  in  the  line :  Karnack,  Memphis,  Ramses,  Setos, 
tfheben,  and  Menes. 

These  steamers  will  touch  at  Hamburg,  Grimsby,  Antwerp,  and 
Bordeaux,  in  Europe,  on  both  eastward  and  westward  voyages. 
They  agree  to  charge  no  more  than  £\  \os.  per  ton  for  fine  mer- 
chandise, such  as  silks,  cotton  goods,  etc.,  nor  more  than  ^3  ioj". 
for  heavier  articles,  such  as  crockery,  hardware,  boots  and  shoes, 
coarse  wearing  apparel.  Large  pieces  of  machinery  and  pack- 
ages exceeding  a  ton  in  weight,  or  40  cubic  feet  by  measurement, 
are  to  be  carried  by  agreement.  The  company  agrees  to  receive 
cargoes  from  London  and  Bremen  at  the  same  rate  of  freight,  and 
also  agrees  to  carry  free  of  cost  all  employes  of  the  Government 
and  to  transport  for  one-half  the  ordinary  tariff  agreed  upon  all 
articles  imported  for  the  use  or  benefit  of  the  Government ;  also 
to  carry  all  immigrants  from  Europe  to  Guatemala  at  one-half  the 
regular  fare.  The  steamers  are  to  carry  free  the  mails  from  Guate- 
mala and  the  other  American  Republics  on  the  west  coast  of 
South  and  Central  America  to  the  ports  of  Europe  and  bring  the 
72 


GUATEMALA.  73 

European  mails.  In  consideration  of  this  concession,  the  Govern- 
ment of  Guatemala  agrees  to  pay  the  company  a  subsidy  of  $  1,000 
for  every  steamer  of  the  Kosmos  line  calling  at  its  ports,  the  condi- 
tion being  that  not  less  than  one  a  month  shall  call  there.  The 
steamers  are  absolved  from  all  tonnage,  anchorage,  and  port  dues, 
and  are  to  have  preference  in  the  way  of  advantages  for  unloading 
and  loading. 

The  authorities  of  Guatemala  have  approved  the  contract  en- 
tered into  with  the  agent  of  the  New  Orleans  and  Belize  Royal 
Mail  and  Central  American  Steamship  Company  for  a  regular  mail 
service  between  the  port  of  Livingston  and  New  Orleans.  The 
Government  agrees  to  pay  $5,000  a  year  for  two  years,  and  is  to 
enjoy  special  rates  for  employes  and  the  carrying  of  the  mails, 
while  the  company  will  be  free  from  all  port  and  other  similar 
charges. 

The  Government  of  Guatemala  has  recently  granted  a  con- 
cession to  Messrs.  Martin,  Roberts  6t  Co.  for  the  construction  of 
a  canal  52  miles  in  length  from  Point  Lengua  de  Buey,  near 
Port  Livingston  on  the  Caribbean  Sea,  to  Gualan,  a  city  of  the 
interior,  about  150  miles  from  Gautemala  City,  the  capital  of  the 
Republic.  A  railway  is  now  in  process  of  construction  between 
the  latter  towns.  The  canal  is  to  be  of  sufficient  length  and  depth 
to  accommodate  steamers  of  100  tons. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  is  in  receipt  of  a  dispatch 
from  Consul-General  Kimberly,  in  Guatemala,  transmitting  a  de- 
cree of  the  Guatemalan  Government,  dated  June  3,  1891,  remit- 
ting all  customs  duties  on  imports  of  flour  and  salt  from  and  after 
that  date,  except  so  far  as  a  proportion  of  those  duties  is  pledged 
for  the  payment  of  the  interest  on  the  public  debt  and  the  repay- 
ment of  the  special  loan  of  $1,000,000,  negotiated  some  time  ago. 
The  same  decree  also  permits  the  free  introduction  and  slaughter 


74  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

of  live  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs  from  the  neighboring  Republics,  and 
exempts  from  export  silver  tax  the  money  sent  out  of  the  country 
to  pay  for  such  cattle,  etc. 

By  a  recent  decree  of  the  Government  of  Guatemala  revolvers 
and  pistols  pay  an  import  duty  of  3  piasters  per  pound  gross 
weight,  and  fire-arms  introduced  by  special  authority  of  the  Gov- 
ernment 2  piasters  and  50  centavos. 

By  a  recent  census  the  population  of  Guatemala  is  found  to  be 
1,460,017. 


Haiti, 


PORT  CHARGES. 

The  Government  of  Haiti  has  recently  adopted  a  new  rate  of 
port  charges  as  follows : 

Cape  Haitien. — Pilotage  and  signal,  $14;  sanitary  visit,  paid  to 
doctor  of  port,  $12.50;  sanitary  dues,  paid  to  Government,  $22.Q2  ; 
tonnage  dues,  per  ton  on  cargo  landed,  50  cents. 

Gonaives. — Pilotage,  $5 ;  sanitary  visit,  paid  to  doctor  of  port, 
$12.50;  sanitary  dues,  paid  to  Government,  $22.92 ;  tonnage  dues 
per  ton  of  cargo  landed,  50  cents. 

St.  Marc. — Pilotage,  $5 ;  sanitary  visit,  paid  to  doctor  of  port, 
$12.50 ;  sanitary  dues,  paid  to  Government,  $22.92 ;  tonnage  dues 
per  ton  of  cargo  landed,  50  cents. 

Port  au  Prince. — Pilotage,  $  1 5 ;  signal,  $2;  sanitary  visit,  paid 
to  doctor  of  port,  $12.50;  sanitary  dues,  paid  to  Government, 
$22.92;  light  dues  per  ton  on  gross  tonnage,  50  cents;  on  vessels, 
in  gold,  6  cents. 

Petit  Goave. — Pilotage,  $  10 ;  sanitary  visit,  paid  to  doctor  of  port, 
$  1 2.50 ;  sanitary  dues,  paid  to  Government,  $22.92  ;  tonnage  dues 
per  ton  on  cargo  landed,  50  cents. 

Miragoane. — Pilotage,  $15;  signal,  $2;  sanitary  visit,  paid  to 
doctor  of  port,  $12.50;  sanitary  dues,  paid  to  Government,  $22.92  ; 
tonnage  dues  per  ton  on  cargo  landed,  50  cents ;  stages  for  land- 
ing, single,  $15;  lines,  $5. 

75 


76  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Jeremie — Pilotage  and  signal,  $6  ;  sanitary  visit,  paid  to  health 
officer,  $12.50;  sanitary  dues,  paid  to  Government,  $22.92;  ton- 
nage dues  per  ton  on  cargo  landed,  50  cents. 

Aux  Cayes. — Pilotage  paid  to  pilot,  $10;  pilotage,  paid  to  Gov- 
ernment, $13;  interpreter,  about  $5;  sanitary  visit,  paid  to  health 
officer,  $12.50;  sanitary  dues,  $22.92;  tonnage  dues  per  ton  on 
cargo  landed,  50  cents. 

Jacmel. — Pilotage  and  clearance,  $15;  sanitary  visit,  to  doctor 
of  port,  $12.50;  gratuity  to  doctor,  $2;  sanitary  dues  to  Govern- 
ment, $22.92;  interpreter,  about,  $10;  tonnage  dues  per  ton  on 
cargo  landed,  50  cents. 

Note. — Beyond  these  charges  various  gratuities  are  given.  Except  the  light 
dues  at  Port  au  Prince,  which  are  levied  in  gold,  the  above  disbursements  are 
paid  in  Haitien  currency,  which  is  converted  at  $4.80  to  the  pound  sterling, 
after  deduction  of  the  premium  in  favor  of  gold,  which  varied  during  1890  be- 
tween 4  and  36  per  cent. 


Honduras. 


CULTIVATION  OF  FRUIT 

A  letter  from  a  prominent  American  citizen  of  Honduras  con- 
tains the  following  extract : 

The  northern  part  of  this  Republic,  which  is  the  part  best  adapted  for  agri- 
culture and  fruit-growing,  is  just  now  improving  very  rapidly,  particularly  in 
the  neighborhood  of  San  Pedro  Sula,  the  present  terminus  of  the  railroad,  39 
miles  south  of  Puerto  Cortez.  Quite  a  number  of  Americans  have  located  in 
that  vicinity  and  have  engaged  in  fruit-culture ;  many  of  them  are  from  Califor- 
nia, experienced  fruit-growers.  Seven  more  families  from  that  State  will  arrive 
within  the  next  few  weeks  and  have  already  secured  land.  The  Americans  are 
introducing  the  industry  of  drying  bananas.  The  ripe  banana  when  dry  re- 
sembles the  fig.  They  are  selling  in  the  United  States  at  20  cents  per  pound, 
at  which  price  they  are  far  more  profitable  to  the  grower  than  selling  the  bananas 
in  the  bunch  to  the  steamship-owners.  The  result  of  this  movement  will  be  to 
give  a  great  impetus  to  their  cultivation  and  to  secure  a  much  higher  price  to 
the  producers. 

In  the  near  future  the  above-named  locality  will  be  the  great  fruit  region  of 
Honduras.  With  fine  healthful  climate,  fertile  soil,  and  splendidly  watered,  all 
the  tropical  and  semitropical  fruits  can  be  produced  and  matured,  not  at  any 
particular  season,  but  all  the  year  round,  with  absolute  certainty,  as  frosts  and 
destructive  droughts  are  alike  unknown.  There  are  no  taxes  in  this  country  on 
real  estate.  The  best  fruit  lands  are  selling  at  $5  per  acre,  and  it  costs  about 
$10  per  acre  to  clear  and  plant  the  ground  with  bananas.  These  prices  are  in 
Honduranean  currency,  worth  25  per  cent  less  than  American  dollars,  conse- 
quently reducing  the  above  figures  by  that  amount  when  calculated  in  United 
States  money.  While  the  bananas  are  growing,  two  crops  of  corn  can  be  pro- 
duced on  the  ground  between  the  rows.  Corn  is  worth  in  San  Pedro  generally 
about   $1    per  bushel.      There  is   also  plenty  of  land  in  the   neighborhood  spe- 

77 


78  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

daily  adapted  for  raising  coffee  and  the  cocoa  bean,  both  of  which  are  profitable 
crops. 

When  all  these  advantages  are  combined  with  the  fact  that  Puerto  Cortez  is 
only  900  miles  from  New  Orleans  it  is  not  very  difficult  to  predict  what  the  fu- 
ture of  this  region  will  be. 

The  Government  of  Honduras  has  granted  a  concession  to 
William  C.  Burchard,  United  States  consul  at  Ruatan,  to  organ- 
ize a  company  for  the  purpose  of  developing  the  fruit  trade  and 
establishing  new  industries  in  the  district  of  Mosquitia,  Honduras, 
The  Government  agrees  to  sell  Mr.  Burchard  alternate  sections  of 
public  lands  at  the  rate  of  fifty  cents  per  manzana  (1.7  acres),  and 
all  agricultural  colonists  he  may  introduce  into  the  Republic  will 
receive  a  free  title  to  all  lands  that  they  may  cultivate  without  in- 
terruption for  three  years.  La  Mosquitia  is  the  eastern  province 
of  Honduras,  is  bounded  by  Nicaragua,  and  is  known  to  be  very 
rich  in  the  natural  resources  of  the  Republic. 

Information  has  been  received  in  regard  to  the  cultivation  of 
bananas  on  the  north  coast  of  Honduras,  which  has  increased 
rapidly  during  the  last  few  years  and  has  of  late  assumed  remark- 
able proportions.  Ten  years  ago  scarcely  a  banana  "  finca "  was 
to  be  found  on  the  mainland  of  Honduras,  and  the  trade  that 
existed  at  that  time  was  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the  Bay 
Islands.  The  line  of  the  coast  was  an  unbroken  forest,  but  since 
that  time  towns  of  considerable  size  have  sprung  up,  and  from 
Puerto  Cortez  to  Truxillo  there  is  almost  a  continuous  field  of 
bananas,  while  twelve  steamers  a  month  ply  between  the  various 
ports  of  the  coast  and  New  Orleans,  each  carrying  a  full  load  of 
bananas  on  every  trip.  The  cultivation  is  very  profitable.  An 
acre  of  land  of  suitable  soil,  well  attended  to,  should  produce  about 
300  bunches  of  bananas,  worth  on  the  average  50  cents  a  bunch, 
and  the  cost  of  preparing  the  land  should  not  exceed  $20  an  acre. 
At  a  cost  not  exceeding  $  1 2  an  acre,  yearly  crops  can  be  taken 
off  for  at  least  eight  years.  Several  planters  about  the  towns  of 
Coiba,  Belfate,  and  Tela,  are  able  to  cut  several  hundred  bunches 


HONDURAS.  79 

of  bananas  twice  or  three  times  a  month  the  year  round,  but  most 
of  the  plantations  are  on  a  smaller  scale. 

A  letter  received  from  Dr.  Jeronimo  Zelaya,  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  for  the  Republic  of  Honduras,  brings  the  information  that 
Col.  F.  F.  Hilder,  of  New  Orleans,  has  obtained  a  concession, 
under  which  he  proposes  to  utilize  the  fiber  of  the  banana  tree,  and 
to  that  end  he  is  going  to  start  banana  plantations.  Dr.  Zelaya 
continues  as  follows : 

It  is  easy  to  obtain  lands  on  the  coast  at  very  low  prices,  and  even  gratis, 
upon  application  to  the  Government.  During  the  five  months  of  our  summer 
the  heat  on  our  coasts,  both  north  and  south,  is  intense,  but  not  unhealthful. 
In  the  interior  of  the  country,  as,  for  instance,  here  in  Tegucigalpa,  Yuscaran, 
the  Angeles  Valley,  Intibuca,  Santa  Rosa,  &c,  the  climate  is  excellent. 

The  new  port  of  Ceiba,  recently  established  in  the  Republic  of 
Honduras,  has  entered  into  active  commercial  relations  with  the 
United  States.  The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  has  re- 
ceived information  that  from  the  1st  to  the  11th  of  September 
there  were  exported  to  the  United  States  39,000  bunches  of 
bananas,  of  which  27,000  bunches  were  shipped  to  New  Orleans 
and  12,000  to  New  York.  The  steamers  of  the  Oteri  Pioneer 
Line,  from  New  Orleans,  now  stop  at  this  port  regularly,  while 
communication  with  New  York  is  maintained  three  times  a  month 
by  the  fleet  of  the  Wessels  line.  The  first  vessel  to  be  registered 
on  the  books  of  the  new  custom-house  was  the  Jose  Oteri,  Jr., 
from  New  Orleans. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  is  informed  that  the 
values  of  the  exports  from  the  Republic  of  Honduras  during  the 
last  fiscal  year  were  as  follows : 

Live  stock $451. 115.  59 

Vegetables I,  491,  316.  56 

Minerals 593,  086.  99 

Manufactured  goods 41,  489.  07 

Total 2,  667, 008.  21 


80  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

MINING. 

The  Government  of  Honduras  has  established  a  Mining  Bureau, 
under  the  direction  of  Dr.  R.  Fritzgartner,  of  Tegucigalpa,  which 
will  furnish  reliable  information  gratuitously  to  all  persons  who  are 
interested  in  that  subject. 

A  prominent  American,  now  visiting  Honduras,  writes  in  re- 
spect to  the  manner  in  which  the  mineral  and  other  resources  of 
that  country,  as  well  as  its  railroads,  are  being  absorbed  by 
European  countries.     He  says  : 

If  one-tenth  part  of  the  truth  were  known  about  this  country  in  the  United 
States  its  capitalists  and  people  would  not  sit  supine  and  permit  the  trade  and 
rich  natural  resources  of  the  country  to  be  absorbed  by  European  countries. 
Last  year  the  English  secured  vast  holdings  of  minerals  and  are  preparing  to 
repeat  the  South  African  movement.  They  are  also  negotiating  for  lands  for 
colonization.  At  present  they  control  the  building  of  the  Interoceanic  Rail- 
road. The  French  recently  bought  out  a  native  syndicate  which  had  obtained 
large  concessions  of  mining  lands  with  special  privileges.  Their  engineers  ar- 
rived yesterday  to  begin  work;  also  the  engineers  for  the  railroad  from  the 
interior  to  the  Pacific  which  the  French  are  building.  The  Germans  are  to- 
day negotiating  for  the  largest  developed  mining  property  in  the  country,  now 
owned  by  an  American  company  with  insufficient  capital,  and  if  they  secure  it 
they  will  get  back  the  price  paid  for  it  in  two  years. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  a  strong  American  syndicate  might  secure  the  con- 
trol of  the  Interoceanic  Railroad,  owing  to  the  financial  stringency  in  Europe, 
and  that  would  change  the  situation  not  only  in  respect  to  Honduras,  but  all 
Central  America,  as  branch  lines  would  quickly  tap  the  other  Republics.  Two 
hundred  miles  of  Interoceanic  Railroad  added  to  -that  already  built  would 
capture  Honduras,  a  good  part  of  Central  America  and  the  west  coast  of 
South  America,  opening  up  a  country  of  enormous  capacity  in  the  production 
of  fruit,  sugar,  coffee,  precious  woods,  gold,  silver,  copper,  magnetic  iron,  and 
I  believe  coal. 

COMMUNICATIONS. 


The  Government  of  Honduras  has  granted  a  concession  to  S 
B.  McCormic  to  construct  a  railroad  in  the  Territory  of  Mos- 
quitia,  from  the  east  coast  to  the  interior,  giving  him  9  square 
miles  of  any  unoccupied  land  that  he  may  select  for  every  mile  o 
railroad  he  may  construct.     It  is  further  stipulated  that  he  shall 


J 

1 


HONDURAS.  8l 

have  the  right  to  import  free  of  duty  all  rolling  stock,  supplies, 
implements,  and  provisions  of  food  that  may  be  required  for  the 
construction  and  equipment  of  the  railroad ;  that  it  shall  be 
forever  free  from  all  taxation,  either  state  or  municipal,  and  that 
any  foreign  workmen  he  may  introduce  into  the  country  for  the 
construction  of  the  road,  and  as  settlers  upon  the  lands  that  are 
granted  him,  shall  be  exempt  from  military  duty  and  from  the 
payment  of  personal  taxes.  Such  settlers  will  have  the  right  to 
import  free  of  duty  all  tools,  implements,  machinery,  etc.,  neces- 
sary for  the  cultivation  of  their  lands  and  the  preparation  of  their 
crops  for  market.  The  company  is  also  granted  the  right  to  cut 
mahogany  and  other  timber  on  Government  lands,  upon  the  pay- 
ment of  $5  for  each  mahogany  tree. 

The  Government  of  Honduras  has  made  a  concession  to  a  syn- 
dicate of  French  capitalists  for  the  construction  of  a  narrow-gauge 
railway,  93  miles  long,  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  city  of 
Tegucigalpa.  The  proposed  road  will  pass  through  the  plains  of 
Choluteca,  following  the  course  of  the  Rio  Grande,  thus  avoiding 
topographical  difficulties  in  reaching  the  higher  plateaus  of 
Tegucigalpa  and  those  of  the  interior.  The  road,  although  by  no 
means  not  a  direct  route  from  the  coast,  will  be  of  great  impor- 
tance and  utility,  as  it  will  touch  a  number  of  the  most  important 
mining  districts  and  fertile  agricultural  lands.  The  importance  of 
this  road,  as  regards  the  mining  industry,  can  not  be  easily  over- 
estimated, as  it  not  only  provides  easier  and  cheaper  freightage, 
but  also  opens  up  new  timber  districts  which  up  to  this  time  are 
untouched,  being  too  far  from  the  mining  districts  to  haul  the 
timber  by  ox  teams. 

The  Government  of  Honduras  has  granted  to  Messrs.  E.  W. 
Perry  and  F.  M.  Imboden,  both  citizens  of  the  United  States,  a 
concession  of  land  covering  the  entire  region  known  as  Mosquita, 
the  payment  for  which  is  to  be  made  in  the  construction  of  expen- 
sive public  works,  including  an  army  road  from  Tegucigalpa  to 
Bull.  41 6 


82  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

the  coast  of  the  Caribbean  Sea,  more  than  300  miles  in  length ; 
another,  a  canal  to  connect  the  Caratasca  Lagoon  with  the  Guayapa 
River.  This  canal  is  to  be  20  miles  in  length,  with  uniform  width 
of  12  yards  and  a  depth  of  5  feet,  and  will  afford  facilities  for 
transportation  that  have  long  been  needed.  In  addition  to  these 
works,  Messrs.  Perry  and  Imboden  agree  to  erect  100  miles  of 
telegraph  line,  establishing  communication  by  wire  between  the 
Mosquito  region  and  the  interior  of  the  country.  Active  measures 
will  at  once  be  taken  to  induce  immigrants  to  settle  upon  the  lands 
of  the  concession,  and  liberal  inducements  are  offered. 

The  Government  of  Honduras  has  issued  a  decree  continuing 
for  another  term  of  years  the  steamship  company  maintained  by 
Messrs.  De  Leon  and  Alger,  between  Puerto  Cortez,  Belize,  and 
New  Orleans. 

A  private  letter  received  from  a  prominent  citizen  of  Honduras 
says: 

It  seems  at  last  as  if  the  great  barrier  to  commerce,  lack  of*  transportation,  is 
about  to  be  overcome.  English  engineers  are  now  at  Puerto  Cortez,  busy  with 
the  preliminaries  for  the  work  of  extending  the  railroad  which  now  exists  from 
the  port  of  San  Pedro  39  miles  to  Portrerillos,  31  miles  farther,  or  70  miles  from 
the  coast.  This  will  form  the  first  division  of  the  Interoceanic  Railroad,  210 
miles  from  the  Caribbean  Sea  to  the  Pacific.  The  capital  for  this  work  has  been 
provided  by  an  English  syndicate,  and  as  soon  as  it  is  completed  it  is  their  inten- 
tion to  appeal  to  the  public  for  capital  to  finish  it  to  the  Bay  of  Fonseca,  thus 
furnishing  a  perfect  and  beautiful  overland  route  with  a  magnificent  natural 
harbor  at  each  end.  A  French  company  has  also  just  obtained  a  concession  to 
build  a  railroad  from  San  Lorenzo,  on  the  Bay  of  Fonseca,  to  this  capital,  and 
their  representative  here  tells  me  it  is  their  intention  to  proceed  with  the  work 
immediately.  These  roads  will  be  the  entering  wedge  that  will  break  up  the 
isolation  of  this  beautiful  country,  and  make  it  accessible  to  the  forces  of  capital 
and  enterprise,  all  that  is  required  to  make  it  "blossom  as  the  rose." 

WHERE  COLUMBUS  FIRST  STOOD  ON  THE  CONTINENT. 

Col.  F.  F.  Hilder,  of  Honduras,  has  proposed  that  a  subscription 
list  be  opened  during  the  World's  Fair  to  raise  money  to  erect  a 
monument   on    the    spot    where    Columbus    first   stood    on    the 


HONDURAS.  83 

continent  of  America.  This  was  at  what  is  now  known  as  Point 
Castilla,  near  Truxillo,  Honduras.  The  exact  spot  where  Colum- 
bus landed  is  well  known  because  of  landmarks,  although  not  even 
a  single  stone  or  inscription  of  any  kind  marks  the  place  so  memora- 
ble in  the  history  of  the  world. 


Mexico. 


COMPARATIVE  STATEMENT  OF  EXPORTS  FOR  THE    FIRST    HALF 
OF  i8go-'gi  AND  i88g-'go. 

The  following  table  shows  the  exports  of  merchandise  of  the 
Republic  of  Mexico  for  the  first  half  of  the  fiscal  year  1890-91 
in  comparison  with  those  for  the  corresponding  previous  year: 


I  First  half  of  i89o-'9i.  First  half  of  1889-90. 


Rum 

Jewels  and  precious  stones. 

Living  animals 

Indigo 

Sugar 

Empty  barrels 

Coffee 

Stone  coal 

India  rubber 

Bristles 

Copper : 

Mother-of-pearl  shells,  pearl 

Tanning  barks 

Chicle 

Peppers 


Beans. 

Fruit 

Peas 

Guano 

Henequen 

Ixtle 

Wool 

Lemons 

Woods,  sundry 

Manufactures 

Marble 

Merchandise  returned 

Honey 

Samples 

Orchilla 

Fine  pearls 

Skins,  sundry 

Muscovado  sugar 

Lead 


Dollars. 
13,  66l.  50 

5,  313.  00 

162,  928.OO 

48,  754-  88 

455.oo 

9,  834.  50 

019,  616.  09 

85,  124.  35 

30,856.77 

21,  130.  51 

1,  650.  00 

18,  735.  00 

10,  500.  00 

533,781.99 

12,678.85 

8,473.25 

97,  472.  49 

59,  566.  12 

31,395.25 


314,  514.  88 

519,029.49 

30.  OO 

48,  542.  50 

882,842.  15 

8,  848.  65 

46,  760.  00 

30,  975-  50 

26,  889.  52 

4,  659.  00 

i,35LOO 

11,000.00 

717.133-85 

4,  820. 00 

377.344-41 


Dollars. 

5,935-00 

I,  84O.  OO 

231,  S4I.  50 

60,  196.  OO 

38,  225.  80 

9.955-00 

1,317,888.49 

91,091.00 

45,963-  15 

22,  670.  94 
156,  137.00 

24,  122.  74 

8,  284.  00 

326,  434.  99 

16,  860.  00 

6,  447-  00 
109,  186.  54 

42,457-25 

84,  5S8.  49 

8,025.  00 

4,  084,  4S0.  30 

491,  938.  78 

21,894.05 

41,  167.00 

645.  335-  00 

7.  804.  13 
79.425.46 

108,835.65 

37.240.  13 

21,  031.  50 

7.  145- 00 

54,  000.  00 

85a,  443-  74 

7.  212.  50 

272,439.72 


84 


MEXICO.  85 

Comparative  statement  of  exports  for  the  first  half  of  iSgo-'gi  and  i88g-'go — Continued. 


Jalap 

Broom  root 

Empty  sacks 

Salt 

Cotton  seed 

Tobacco 

Wheat 

Vanilla 

Securities 

Sarsaparilla 

Other  articles   not   specified   and   which    do   not 
reach  $5,000  in  the  half  year 


First  half  of  1890-V 


Dollars. 

47,  238.  80 

2l8,  186.  04 

3,  063.  OO 

375-  00 

200.  00 

446,  925.  59 

570.  00 

345,  306.  00 

910,  528.  50 

11,604.75 

54,  635.  95 


10,  205,  302.  13 


First  half  of  i88q-'qo. 


Dollars. 

257.  92 

213,  539.  14 

IO,  7IO.OO 

5,  185.00 

7,871.40 

379,  365.  37 

12,  680.  00 

583,  409.  46 

116.90 

8,  392.  52 

78,  837.  81 


10,  643,  909.  27 


The  exports  of  precious  metals  for  the  same  period  amounted  to  $22,165,192.93,  mak- 
ing a  total  of  $32,370,495. 

STATISTICS  OF   EXPORTS  FOR  THE  FISCAL  YEAR  OF  1890- *gi. 

FXPORTS    BY    CUSTOM    HOUSES. 

Comparison  of  the  value  of  exports  made  through  the  custom  houses  of  the  Republic  in  the 
fiscal  year  i8go-'g/.  with  those  corresponding  to  the  previous \  year  i88g-'go. 


Custom-houses. 

Fiscal  year 
i8oo-'9i. 

Fiscal  year 
i88o-'9a 

Excess  in 
i8qo-'9i. 

Decrease  in 
i8oo-'9i. 

Acapulco 

Dollars. 

154,  914.  58 

6l,  832.  36 

93,381.00 

263.  90 

30,  049.  6l 

178,358.00. 

14,  301,  855.  87 

2,698,  2l8.  71 

I02,  403.  79 

185,375.54 
543,961.51 
1,045.00 
956,  732.  66 
808,  802.  42 
3,  332,  243.  57 

Dollars. 
203,  194.  60 
94,013.17 
51, 197.  OO 

117,563.79 

38,  20I.  84 

154,  566.  14 

15,  137,  724.  59 

2,  521,  946.  74 

67,  l8l.  30 
152,373.86 

414,  388.  68 

15,  669.  23 

860,  987.  98 

652,719.46 

3,  047,  864.  71 

6,  295.  00 

307,  214.  27 

451,  866.  75 

5,321,455.40 

160,763.44. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 
48,  280.  02 
32,  180.  8l 

Altata 

Ascension 

42,  184.  OO 

Bahia  de  la  Magdalena. . . 

117,  299.  89 
8,  152.23 

Campeche 

23,  791.  86 

Ciudad  Juarez 

835,  868.  72 

<    Ciudad  Porfirio  Diaz 

176,  271.  97 
35,  222.  49 
33,  001.  68 

129,  572.  83 

Coatzacoalcos 

Frontera 

Guaymas 

14,  624.  23 

Isla  del  Carmen 

95,  744.  68 
156,082.  96 
284,  378.  86 

La  Paz 

*    Laredo  de  Tamaulipas 

Las  Palomas 

6,  295.00 
151,251.50 

80,  663.  38 
288,  142.  40 

88,  256.  94 

Manzanillo 

155,962.77 

371,  203.  37 

5,033,  3!3-  00 

72,  506.  50 

*l  Matamoros 

Mazatlan , 

Mier 

86 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


Comparison  of  the  value  of  exports  made  through  tfie  custom  houses  of  the  Republic  in  the 
fiscal  year  i8go-'g/,  with  those  corresponding  to  the  previous  year  i88g- 'go — Continued. 


Custom-houses. 


Nogales 

Palominas 

Progreso 

Puerto  Angel  .... 

Salina  Cruz 

San  Bias 

San  Jose  del  Cabo 

Santa  Rosalia 

Sasabe 

Soconusco  

Tampico 

Tijuana 

Todos  Santos  .... 

Tonala 

Ttixpam 

Veracruz 


Total 

Net  increase. 


Fiscal  year 
1890-  91. 


Dollars. 
895,  336. 
228,  762. 

7, 447,  548. 

177,  784. 
84,  264. 

275.441. 

15,  798. 

947,  640. 

6,  064. 

279.  783. 

1,075,  !2I. 

28,  605. 

203,415. 

4I5.308 

I,  579»635. 
20,  533,  460. 


63.  276,  395-  34 


Fiscal  year 
1889-V 


Dollars. 

534,  859.  48 

79.04L  15 

7,  748,  400.  19 

192,  704.30 

143.755-35 
240,  203.  00 

13,  623.  78 
711,  402.  00 

23,  668.  00 

231,552.43 

718,  125.  10 

5i,344.5o 

36,917.32 

221,  538.  50 

1,659,711.79 

20,115,353-85 


Excess  in 
i89o-'9i. 


Dollars. 
360,477.17 
149,721.03 


35,  238.  85 

2,  174-  72 

236,  238.  50 


40,  230.  92 
35b,  996.  03 


166,  498.  55 
193,  770.  30 


418,  106.  88 


62,  499,  388.  69  J2,  943,  704.  28 
I     777,006.65 


Decrease  in 
i890-'9i. 


300,851.95 

14,  919-  95 
59,  491- 10 


17,  604.  00 


22,  739.  50 
80,  076.  01 


2,  166,  697.  63 


EXPORTS    BY    NATIONS. 

Comparison  of  the  value  of  exportations ,  by  nations,  as  enumerated  in  the  fiscal  year  /8go-'gi 
ivith  the  corresponding  exportation  in  the  previous  year  /88g-'go. 


Nations. 


Germany 

Colombia 
Costa  Rica  . . . 

China 

Spain 

United  States. 

France 

Guatemala  . . . 

Holland 

Honduras 

England 

Italy 

Nicaragua  . . . 

Russia 

San  Salvador  . 
Venezuela  . .  . 


Total 

Net  increase 


Fiscal  year 
i89o-'9i. 


Dollars. 

2,  785,  874.  86 

57,416.  28 

212.  OO 

845.OO 

515,193.74 

44,983,086.37 

3.653.55L33 
193,711.47 
187,931.65 


IO,  882,  728.  33 
920.  OO 

6,  289.  31 
4,000.00 
4.635-00 


Fiscal  year 
i889-'90- 


Excess  in 
1890-V 


Dollars. 
I.693,733.  15 
77,512.35 


63.  276,  395-  34 


534.057.27 

43,  022,  440.  67 

3,159,259-50 

117,  670.  65 

150,  580.08 

3,  700.  00 
13,  722, 122.  52 

4,  555-*oo 
8,  569.  20 


2,  802.  30 

2,  34b.  <h) 


Dollars. 

092,  101.  71 


388.69 


212.00 
845.OO 


I,  960,  645.  70 

494,291.83 

76,  040.  82 

37,35L57 


4.000.00 
I,  832.  70 


3,667,321.33 

777,  006.  65 


Decrease  in 
i89o-'9i. 


Dollars. 
20,  O96.  07 


18,  863.  53 


3,  700.  OO 

2,  839,  394.  19 

3,  635.  OO 

2,  279.  89 


a,  346,  00 


2,  890,  314.  68 


MEXICO. 


87 


EXPORTS    BY    ARTICLES. 


Comparison  of  the  values  of  exports  by  articles  as  enumerated  in  the  fiscal  year  f8go-'gf,  with 
the  corresponding  exportation  in  the  previous  year  1 88g- 'go. 


Articles. 


Fiscal  year  i89o-'9i 


Fiscal  year  iSSg-'go. 


Cane  spirits  (rum). . 

Garlic 

Jewels 

Starch  

Living  animals 

Indigo 

Rice. . : 

Sugar 

Empty  barrels 

Cocoa 

Coffee 

Coal 

Meat 

Rubber 

Bristles 

Copper 

Shells 

Barks 

Chicle  . . .  .  ^. .* 

Chile  peppers 

Manuscripts 

Drugs 

Baggage  

Essence  of  aloes 

Beans 

Fruit 

Pease     , 

Cochineal , 

Guano 

Henequen  

Bones 

Ixtle  fiber 

Wool   

Vegetables 

Books 

Lemons 

Linseed  

Woods , 

Maize 

Manufactures 

Maps 

Marble 

Merchandise  returned. 

Honey 

Copper  ore 

Samples 

Orchil 

Pearls 

Skins  and  hides 


Dollars. 

14, 323. 50 

29,  989.  03 

17,574.00 


*  .  I 


184, 

93. 
10, 

24. 

18, 

6,  150, 
160, 

72, 

58, 

940, 

24, 

22, 

286, 

22, 

6, 

39. 

8, 

208, 

103, 

98, 


482.  00 
143-  88 
368.  40 
018.  40 
769.  50 

93.00 
358.  72 
702.  35 

66.  00 
558.92 
477-  92 
920.  00 

411-31 
163.  00 
997.  10 

05L75 
464.  00 
049.  70 
734-  25 
415.  00 
506.  38 
849.  62 
251.  28 


7,  048, 

6, 

823, 

1, 

3, 

70, 


l(   X'72*' 


13. 

87! 
97, 
9i. 

9. 
1, 

17, 
1,  804, 


556.  76 
982.  00 

349-  84 
30.  00 
768.  61 
961.00 
675.00 
000.  00 
527.08 
108.  80 
962.  74 
369.  00 
555.85 
154.69 

874.  92 
850.  00 

745-  9° 
351.00 
500.  00 
828.  69 


Dollars. 

9,  3l6.  37 
31,  332.  50 

6,  850.  00 

11,  181.00 
500,217.25 

85,305.37 

2,  225.  OO 
61,983.80 

12,  275.  OO 

3,  633.  25 
4,  8ti,ooo.  48 

188,  507.00 

1,  247.  50 

97-  245.  75 

64,  207.  13 

735,  183.  60 
30,  258.  74 
14,  484. 00 

716,  746.  33 

19.919-44 
in,  535.00 

1,  005.  00 
15,366.00 

2,  OO5.  OO 
279,  839.  56 

68,  581.25 

98,  141.  40 

2.  00 

28,025.  00 

7,  392,  244.  69 

3,  874-  25 
827,  980.  61 

26,  826.  40 

1,512,25 

15,732.00 

79,  788.  50 

6,  000.  00 

1,  739,  138.  30 

597-00 

15,402.63 

1,  790.  00 

162,  134.  26 

178,  435-  40 

103,  266.  49 

1,  857.  00 

26,  157.  50 

114,  796.  68 

88,  750.  00 

1,913,129,05 


yg  u 


88 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


Comparison  of  the  values  of  exports  by  articles  as  enumerated  in  the  fiscal  year  fggo-'g/,  7citk 
the  corresponding  exportation  in  the  previous  year  /88g-'go — Continued. 


Articles. 


Fiscal  year  iSgo-'gi, 


Fiscal  year  i889-'9o. 


Unrefined  sugar 

Living  plants 

Lead 

Feathers 

Jalap 

Zacaton  or  broom  corn. 

Empty  sacks 

Salt 

Cotton  seed 

Hats 

Tobacco 

Wheat 

Vanilla 

Securities 

Chalk 

Sarsaparilla 

Various  ariicles 

Silver  ore 

Coined  foreign  gold  . . . 
Coined  Mexican  gold. . 

Gold  bullion 

Coined  foreign  silver.. 
Coined  Mexican  silver. 

Mixed  silver  

Silvei  bullion 

Sulphuretof  silver 

Silver  in  other  forms. . . 


Dollars. 

29,  202.  58 

15,  I5I.OO 

125,  468.  64 

17,  9II.  CO 

67,457.66 

513,254.04 

3,129.00 

2.  765.  25 

3,I33.40 

12,  680.  77 

IO5,  446.  73 

79O.  OO 

519,741.04 

073,  706,  50 

4,  629.  00 

31,350.06 

79,  310.  62 

874,457.24 

20,  594.  00 

134,  219.  00 

612,  619.  12 

229,  806.  85 

622,  171.  10 

729,  134.  81 

751,219.07 

280,  768.  97 

1,  382.00 


Dollars. 

12,  516.  30 

21,  969.  OO 

607,  329.  70 

3,  224.  00 

10,  023.  04 

426,  889.  26 

23,333-00 


II 

781. 

4" 

3 

070.  75 

948 

332. 

17 

12 

682. 

00 

917,409. 

66 

43 

286 

90 

15,993.55 

108,  223.  00 

6,  394,  662.  41 

13,  204.  00 

96,  592.  00 

457,  610.  59 

141,032.  70 

23,  084,  489.  40 

368,871.87 

7,  259,  958.  68 
803,  058.  58 

1,810.  00 


The  exportation  in  the  fiscal  year  1890-91  is  as  follows 

In  precious  metals $36,  256,  372. 16 

In  orther  articles 27,020,023.  18 


Total 63,  276,  395.  34 

The  exportation  in  the  fiscal  year  1889-90  is  as  follows: 

In  precious  metals $38,  621,  290.  23 

In  other  articles '. . . .  23,  878,  09S.  46 


Total 62,  499,  388.  69 

Differences  in  the  fiscal  year  1890-91  were  as  follows: 

Excess  of  merchandise $3,  141,  924.  72 

Decrease  in  metals 2,  364,  918.  07 


Net  increase 


777,006.65 


MEXICO. 


89 


MEXICAN   EXPORTS  IN  1891. 


[Report  by  Minister  Ryan.] 


The  following  official  tables,  taken  from  tne  Diario  Oficial  of 
April  10,  1891,  show  that  the  total  value  of  the  exports  of  mer- 
chandise and  precious  metals  during  the  first  half  of  the  fiscal  year 
i8()o-'9i  (July  to  December)  from  Mexico  was  $32,370,495.06 
It  will  be  seen  that  of  this  sum  the  precious  metals  amount  to 
$22,165,192.93  and  the  merchandise  to  $10,205,302.13.  Of  the 
latter  the  United  States  took  $8,161,294.82,  or  about  80  per  cent 
of  the  total  export  of  merchandise.  Of  the  total  exports  of  pre- 
cious metals  ($22,165,192.93)  the  shipments  to  the  United  States 
were  $13,349,314.34.  The  net  increase  of  exports  of  precious 
metals  over  the  corresponding  period  of  the  preceding  year  was 
$1,196,177.68.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  increase  of  silver-ore 
exports  exceeds  25  per  cent. 


Table  showing  the  total  exportation  through  each  custom-house  during  the  first  half  of  the 

fiscal  year  i8go-'gi. 


Custom-houses. 

Precious  metals. 

Merchandise. 

Total  value  of 

Quantity. 

Value. 

exports. 

Acapulco 

Dollars. 

27,  563.  50 

17,  270.  36 

57,  820.  00 

1,  950.  00 

3,  300.  00 

6,  573.  601.  09 

768,  626.  86 

Kilos. 

872,  284 

662,  621 

2,  800 

6l,  836 

h  962,  755 

894,  953 

24,  316,  783 

4, 182,  949 

2,851.505 

60, 041 

700 

23,  068,  677 

963,  122 

4, 016,  072 

702,  931 

1,213,499 

1,319.956 

65.578 

610,  210 

Dollars. 

66,  079.  90 
18, 662. 00 
14,  906.  00 

13,149-83 

78,  969.  00 

1,017,  3J3-  °7 

630,  630.  35 

42,  435.  69 

72,  686.  88 

8,335.50 

812.00 

503,  614.  00 

32,  283.  00 

562,  607.  65 

23,  763.  80 

67,  895.  10 
49,  in.  00 
18,  747.  50 
38,  845.  00 

Dollars. 

93,  643.  40 
35,  932.  36 

72,  726.  CK> 

Altata 

Ascensi6n 

Camargo 

15,099.83 
82,  269.  OO 

7,  590,  9H.  16 

1,  399,  257.  21 

42,  435.  69 

72,916.88 

331,883.91 

812.00 

Campeche 

Ciudad  Porfirio  Diaz. . . 

Frontera 

230.  00 
323,  548.  41 

Guaymas 

Guerrero 

Isla  del  Carmen 

503,  614.  00 

La  Paz 

364,  841.  36 

1,  529,  290.  93 

36,  200.  00 

143,  205.  65 

2,554,915.86 

22,  510.  00 

243,  474-  27 

397,  124.  36 

Laredo  deTamaulipas. . 

Manzanillo 

Matamoras 

2,  091,  898.  58 

59,  963.  80 

211,  ioo.  75 

2,  604,  026.  86 

41,  257.  50 

Mazatalan 

Mier 

Nogales 

282,319.27 

9° 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


Table  showing  the  total  exportation  through  each  custom-house  during  the  first  half  of  the 
fiscal  year  iSqo-'qi — Continued. 


Custom-houses. 


Palominas    

Progreso 

Puerto  Angel 

Salina  Cruz 

San  Bias 

San  Jose  del  Cabo. 

Santa  Rosalia 

Sasabe 

Soconusco 

Tampico 

Tijuana 

Todos  Santos 

Tonala 

Tuxpan , 

Veracruz , 


Total 


Precious  metals. 


Dollars. 

90,  665.  19 

223,  680.  20 

500.  OO 

24,  700.  OO 
IO5,  864.  OO 


3, 150.  OO 
33,  800.  OO 

159.  345-  50 

570.  00 

65,  577.  78 

138,  167.  80 


8,  650,  824.  17 


22,  165,  192.  93 


Merchandise. 


Quantity. 


Kilos. 
3,749 

26, 741, 303 
7,255 

44.  339 

492, 101 

458,  049 

1,275 

2,797 
114,  229 

4,  226,  260 

38,  572 
70,  088 
37.  668 

5,  358,  703 
8,  156,  127 


113,581,888 


Value. 


Dollars. 

28,  853.  OO 

3,  352,  223.  84 

-       2,653.45 

7,  204.  04 

12,045.13 

11,  061.  50 

260.  OO 

712.  00 

63, 042.  84 

363,  477-  93 

12,440.00 

1,  695.  00 

40,  445.  89 

883,  920.  55 

2.  164,  419.  69 


10,  205,  302.  13 


Total  value  of 
exports. 


Dollars. 

119,518,19 

3,  575,  904-  04 

3,153.45 

31,  904.  04 

117,909.  13 

11,  061.  50 

260.  00 

3,  862.  00 

96.  842.  84 

522,823.43 

13,  010.  00 

67,  272.  78 

178,613.69 

883,920.55 

10,  815,  243.  86 


32,  370,  495.  06 


Table  showing  the  values  of  precious  metals  exported  during  the  first  half  of  the  fiscal  year 
/Sgo-'gi,  compared  with  the  same  period  of  iSSg-'go. 


Metals. 

1890-'91. 

1889-'»0. 

Increase. 

Decrease. 

Silver  ore 

Dollars. 
4,590,408.44- 
4,  844.  OO 
62,  329.  OO 
266,  518.  51 
88,  658.  85 
i3,ii7,575.io 
682.00 
319,  300.  27  • 
3,  195,  561.  30  ■ 
519,315.46, 

Dollars.. 

3,326,316.63 

II,  625.  OO 

47,857.00 

194,711.64 

83,  279.  20 

13,072,  6lO.OO 

60.  OO 

213.  703.  56 

3,  643,  959-  76 
374,  892.  46 

Dollars. 
1,264,091.  8l 

14,472.00 
71,  806.  87 

5,  379-  65 

44,  965.  10 

622.  00 

105,  596.  71 

Dollars. 

Foreign  gold  coin  .^. . . 

Mexican  gold  coin 

Gold  bullion 

6,  781.  00 

Foreign  silver  coin 

Mexican  silver  coin. . .  . 

Silver  for  fluxing 

Silver  mixed  with  gold. 
Silver  bullion 

448,  39S.  46 

Silver  sulphurets    

144,423.00 

Total 

22,  165,  192.  93. 

20,969,015.  25 

*i,  651,  357.  14 

455,  I79-46 

Average  increase,  $1,079,638. 


MEXICO. 


91 


Table  showing  the  exports  by  articles  for  the  first  half  of  the  fiscal  years  i88q-qo  and 
iSSq—'qo,  tvith  the  increase  or  decrease  in  /Sgo-'gi. 


Articles. 


Brandies 

Jewels    and    precious 

stones 

Live  animals 

Indigo 

Sugar 

Empty   barrels,   casks, 

etc 

Coffee 

Hard  coal 

Rubber 

Horsehair 

Copper 

Pearl,  mother-of-pearl, 

etc 

Hides,  wet 

Chicle 

Chile  peppers 

Baggage  

Beans  

Fruit 

Chick  pease,  etc 

Guano 

Hemp 

Ixtle 

Wool 

Lemons 

Woods  (various  kinds) 

Manufactures 

Marble 

Refunded  merchandise 

Bees'  honey 

Samples 

Orchilla : 

Fine  pearls 

Hides  (various) 

Unrefined  sugar 

Lead 

Jalap   (jalapa,   purging 

herb)  

Grass  root 

Empty  sacks 

Salt 

Potton  seed 

Tobacco 

,  Wheat 

Vanilla 

Valuable  papers 


1890'91. 


Dollars. 
13,  66l.  50 

5,  313.  OO 

162,  928.  OO 

48,  754-  88 

455-00 

9-  834-  50 

,  019,  616.  09 

85,i24-35 

30,  856.  77 

21,  130.  51 

1,  650.  00 

18,735.00 
10,  500.  00 

533,781.99 

12,678.85 

8,473-25 

•97,472.49 
59,  566.  12 
31,395-25 


3,314,514.88 

519,029.49 

30.  00 

48,  542.  50 

882,  842.  15 

8,  848.  65 

46,  760.  00 
30,  975.  50 
26,  889.  52 

4,  659.00 

1,  351.  00 

1 1 ,  000.  00 

7i7,i33-85 

4,  820.  OO 

377,  344-  4i 

47,  238.  80 
218,  186.  04 

3,  063.  00 

375-0O 

200.  00 

446,  925.  59 

570.  00 

345,  306.  00 

910,  528.  50 


1889-'90. 


Dollars. 
5,935-00 

I,  840.  OO 

231,  541.  50 

60,  I96.  OO 

39,  225.  80 

9,955.00 

317,888.49 

91,091.  OO 

45,963.I5 

22,  67O.  94 

I56,  I37.OO 


24, 

8, 

326, 

16, 

6, 

109, 

42, 

84, 

8, 

084. 

49i, 
21, 

41- 

645, 

7, 

79, 
108, 

37, 
21, 

7, 
54, 

854, 

7, 

272, 


122.  74 
284.00 

434-  99 
860.  00 
447.00 

186.  54 
457-25 
588.  49 
025.  49 
480.  30 
938.  78 
894.  05 
167.  00 

335.90 
804.  13 

425.  46 
835.65 
240.  13 
031.  50 
145.  00 
000.  00 

443-74 
212.  50 

439-  72 


257.92 

213,  539-  14 

10,  710.  00 

5,  185.  00 

7,871.40 

379,  365.  37 

12,  680.  OO 

583,  409.  46 

Il6.  90 


Increase. 


Dollars. 
7,  726.  50 

3,473-00 


2,  2l6.  OO 

207r547rSo 


2,  026.  25 
17, 108.  87 


27,  090.  7] 


7,375.5o 

--€377-5067-25 

1, 044.  52 


104,  904.  69 

46,  980.  88 
4,  646.  90 


67,  560.  22 
910,  411.  60 


Decrease. 


68,913.  50 
11,441.  12 

38,  770.  80 

I20.  50 
298,  272.  40 

5,  966-  65 
15,  106.  38 

1,540.43 
154,487.00 


5, 

387. 

74 

4, 

181. 

15 

11, 

214.  05 

53,  193-  24 

8,025.49 

769,  965.  42 

27,  090.  71 

21,  864.05 


32,  665.  46 
77,  860.  15 
10,  350.  61 
16,  372.  50 

5.  794.  00 

43.  000.  00 

137,  309-  89 

2,  392-  50 


7,  647.  00 
4,  810.  00 
7,  671.  40 


12,  no.  00 
238,  103.  46 


92 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


Table  showing  the  exports  by   articles  for  the  first  half  of  the  fiscal  years  iSSq-'qo  and 
iSSq—'qo,  with  the  increase  or  decrease  in  /Sgo-'g/ — Continued. 


Articles. 

1890-'91. 

1889-'90. 

Increase. 

Decrease. 

Dollars. 
11,604.  75 

54,  635.  95 

Dollars. 

8,  392.  52 

78,  837.  81 

Dollars. 
3,  212.  23 

Dollars. 

Sundry  articles  unspe- 
cified, whose  exporta- 
tion does  not  exceed 
$5,000   in    the    six 

24,  201.  86 

Total 

10,  205,  302.  13 

IO,  643,  9O9.  27 

I,  650,  631.  12 

2,  089,  238.  26 

RESUME. 

Increase  in  precious  metals $1,  196,  177.  68 

Decrease  in  merchandise 438,  607.  13 

Net  excess  of  exports 757,  570.  54 

Table  showing  the  exports  by  countries  of  merchandise  and  precious  metals  during  the  first 
half  of  the  fiscal  year  iSqo-'qi. 


Precious  metals. 

Merchandise. 

Total  value  of 

W  hither  exported. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

exports. 

Dollars. 
787,  III.  06 
42,  287.  40 

Kilos. 

3,  848,  709 

15,308 

72 

2,  205,  613 

75,359,251 

4.943,451 

22,  49I 

765,  421 

26,  409,  256 

9,000 

3,310 

Dollars. 

425,  959-  °5 

1,  923.  63 

200.  00 

201,  107.  07 

8, 161,  294.  82 

395,  508.  70 

4,  888.  00 

3i,743-4i 

98o,455.45 

750.00 

2,472.00 

Dollars. 
I,  212,  070.  II 
44,211.03. 
200.  OO 

15,  780.  IO 

13,  349,  314.  34 
2,  136,  964.  56 

17,841.15 

2l6,  8S7.  17 

United  States 

21,  510,  609.  16- 

2,  532,  473.  26- 

France 

22,  729.  15 
31,743.41 

6,  792,  853.  17 

750.  OO 

Holland 

5,812,397.72 

Italy 

1,  780.00 
1,  716.60 

4,  252.  00 
1,  716.  60 

Total 

22,  165,  192.  93 

113,581,888 

10,205,302.  13 

32,  370,  495.  06 

MEXICO.  93 

THE  MEXICAN  EXPORT  TRADE. 

[From  the  Mexican  Financier. ,] 

We  present  to-day  tables  showing  the  amount  of  the  national 
exportation  in  the  fiscal  year  1890-91,  ended  June  30  last,  the 
exportation  by  custom-houses  being  given,  by  nations  to  which 
sent,  and  also  by  individual  articles,  the  whole  forming  an  inter- 
esting subject  for  the  study  of  statisticians  and  of  especial  impor- 
tance to  the  holders  of  Mexican  securities  abroad.  The  latter  will 
not  be  disappointed,  for,  even  with  the  most  conservative  correc- 
tions and  explanations,  the  figures  show  the  steady  growth  of 
Mexico's  foreign  commerce,  and,  above  all,  demonstrate  that  the 
country  is  increasing  her  exportation  outside  of  the  precious  metals. 
The  country  is  sending  abroad  more  of  the  products  of  the  field 
and  forest,  a  matter  of  prime  importance  in  these  days  when  silver 
can  no  longer  be  relied  on  to  maintain  a  fairly  stable  price. 

In  the  tables  elsewhere  given  we  make  no  change  in  the  figures 
as  coming  from  the  Treasury  Department,  but  here  we  take  the 
liberty  to  rectify  the  amount  of  merchandise  exports  by  deducting 
the  item  of  "  Securities  exported."  These  have  no  proper  place, 
in  our  opinion,  in  a  presentation  of  the  national  exportation.  Bonds 
are  not  wealth;  they  represent  indebtedness,  are  promises  to  pay 
and  nothing  more.  In  the  fiscal  year  1 890-9 1  the  item  of  "  securi- 
ties exported  "  makes  a  considerable  showing,  being  no  less  than 
$2,073,706.50.  In  the  previous  fiscal  year  only  $43,286.90  were 
included  under  that  head. 

The  Treasury  Department's  figures,  rectified,  stand  as  follows  : 

The  statistics  show  merchandise  exports  in  i8go-'9i  to  have 

been $27,  020,  023.  18 

Deduct  securities 2,  073,  706.  50 

And  there  remains  the  real  merchandise  exportation. .       24,  946,  316.  68 
This,  compared  with  the    real  merchandise  exports  of  the 

preceding  fiscal  year,  which  were 23,  834,  811.  56 

Shows  an  increase  of 1,  in.  505.  12 


94 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


In  our  opinion  this  is  a  satisfactory  gain.  In  fact,  as  compared 
with  the  average  value  of  merchandise  annually  exported  in  the 
five  years  prior  to  1889,  the  gain  is  $8,641,000,  or  more  than  50 
per  cent. 

The  custom-house  returns  of  exports  will  be  closely  studied 
abroad,  where  there  is  much  interest  felt  in  the  effects  of  railway 
construction  to  the  various  frontier  and  maritime  custom-houses. 
For  the  information  of  our  readers  we  present  the  following  table 
of  percentages : 

Percentage  of  exports  via  principal  custom-houses. 


Veracruz 

Ciudad  Juarez  (El  Paso) 

Laredo 

Ciudad  Porfirio  Diaz  (Piedras  Negras) 
Tampico 


1889-'90. 

1890-'91. 

32.  I 

32.4 

24.  2 

22.  6 

4-8 

5-2 

4.0 

4.2 

I.  I 

1.6 

It  will  be  noted  that  Veracruz  is  holding  her  own  remarkably 
well  and  that  Laredo  has  made  a  noticeable  advance.  When 
Tampico  gets  her  bar  cut  through,  she  will  show  better  figures, 
and  already  the  exportation  via  that  port  is  increasing  rapidly. 

Another  table  of  percentages  will  show  at  a  glance  where  the 
products  of  the  country  go. 

Percentage  of  exports  by  nations. 


United  States 

Great  Britain 

France 

Germany 

All  other  countries 

Totals 


ivio  •»!. 


68.  S 

71.0 

21.9 

17.  1 

5.o 

5-7 

2.6 

4.4 

1-7 

1.8 

MEXICO. 


95 


The  enormous  preponderance  of  the  United  States  as  a  buyer 
of  Mexican  products  will  be  noted. 

In  order  that  an  intelligent  comparison  of  the  changes  in  various 
important  items  of  the  national  exportation  may  be  had  we  present 
the  following  table  : 

Exportation  of  leading  products  in  thousands  of  dollars. 


Living  animals 

Indigo 

Sugar 

Cocoa  

Coffee 

Rubber 

Copper 

Chicle 

Beans 

Fruits 

Peas 

Henequen 

Ixtle 

Wool 


Lemons 

Marble 

Orchil 

Pearls 

Skins 

Lead 

Zacaton 

Tobacco 

Vanilla 

Silver  ore 

Gold  bullion  .  . . 
Mexican  dollars. 
Silver  bullion. . . 

Woods 

Honey 


1890'91. 


184 

93 
24 


6,  150 

72 

940 

1,286 
208 
103 


823 


70 

87 

1 

17 
1,  804 

1,125 

513 

I.  105 

519 

8,874 

612 

[7,  622 

6,75i 
1,  726 

9i 


1889  '90. 


500 

85 

6l 

12 

4,8ll 

97 
735 
716 

279 
68 

98 

7,392 

827 

26 

79 
162 
114 

88 

1,913 
607 
426 
948 
917 

6,394 

457 

23,  084 

7,259 

i,739 
103 


Annual  aver- 
age in  pre- 
vious live 
years. 


537 
60 

97 

19 

2,  369 

129 

297 

310 

92 

65 

23 

4,784 

500 

132 

26 

25 

76 

31 

2,000 

397 
312 
718 
601 
4,086 

349 
21,  769 

5,919 
1,686 

67 


Tobacco,  lead,  coffee,  ore,  copper,  chicle,  and  ixtle  show  re- 
makable  gains. 

A  careful  study  of  the  tables  given  will  disclose  the  important 
fact  that  the  national  production  for  export  is  increasing  in  exactly 
those  articles  that  will  best  build  up  a  healthy  foreign  trade. 


96 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


EXPORTS  FOR  THE  FIRST  SIX  MONTHS  1891. 

The  official  statistics  of  exports  from  Mexico  during  the  first 
six  months  of  1 89 1  show  a  total  of  $30,905,900.  The  nations  to 
which  the  exports  were  sent  and  the  appropriation  of  each  are  as 
follows : 


Germany  .... 
Colombia. . .  . 
Costa  Rica  .  . 

China 

Spain 

United  States 

France 

Guatemala. . . 

Holland 

Great  Britain. 

Italy 

Nicaragua.  . . 

Russia 

San  Salvador 


Total . 


Precious  metals. 


Dollars. 
977.  335-  69 
11,  526.  00 


36,  324.  00 

10,  051,  518.  00 

626,  430.  77 

150,  850.  00 


2,233,565.  17 

3,  276.  00 

353.  60 


14,  091,  179.  23 


Other  articles. 


Dollars. 

596,  469.  06 

I,  697.  25 

12.  OO 

845.  OO 

261,982.  57 

13,  420,  958.  6l 

494,  647.  30 

20,  132.  32 

156,  188.24 

1,  856,  309.  99 

170.  00 

1,  296.  71 

4,000.  00 

30.  00 


16,  814,  721.  05 


Totals. 


Dollars. 

1.  573.  804.  75 

13,205.25 

I2.00 

845.OO- 

298,306.  57. 

23,472,477.21 

I,  121,078.07 

170,982.  32 

156,  188.24 

4,089,  875.  ID 

I70.  OO 

4.  572.  71 

4, 000.  OO 

383.  00 


30,  905,  900.  28 


MEXICAN  IMPORTS  FOR  THE  YEAR  1889. 

The  bureau  of  statistics  of  the  Mexican  Republic  has  pub- 
lished tables  showing  the  commerce  of  Mexico  during  the  fiscal 
year  i888-'89.  The  total  value  of  the  imports  for  1889  were 
$40,024,894,  and  the  duties  collected  thereon  were  $22,477,962, 
or  56  per  cent.  The  following  table  shows  the  values  of  the 
various  classes  of  merchandise  imported  and  the  duties  collected 
thereon  : 


MEXICO. 

Imports  by  articles,  i88g. 


97 


Articles. 


Free  goods 

Cottons 

Linen  and  hemp 

Woolens 

Silks 

Silk  mixtures 

Food  products 

Stone  and  earthenware 

Glass  and  china 

Gold,  silver,  and  platinum 

Iron  and  steel 

Copper  and  its  alloys 

Tin,  lead,  and  zinc 

Small  wares 

Machinery  and  apparatus* 

Carriages  and  wheelwrights'  goods  .  .  . 

Arms,  powder,  and  ammunition 

Wood,  and  its  manufactures 

Paper,  cardboard,  and  its  applications 

Skins,  and  goods  of  leather 

Medicinal  drugs 

Miscellaneous 


Total 40,  024,  894.  32  22,  477,  962.  95 


Values  of  imports.        Duties  collected 


Dollars. 

Dollars. 

13,  506,  230.  23 

7,  534,  088.  70 

7,  447,  394-  7© 

674,  029.  52 

671,  590.  87 

1,  613,  186.  22 

1,  986,  020.  61 

394,  691.  60 

378,614.57 

394,  889.  86 

410,419.  80 

4,  893,  706.  49 

3,  789,  270.  57 

81,815.68 

41,  244.  81 

607,  727.  18 

686,  884.  84 

320,  843.  60 

27,  967.  36 

1,  510,  129.91 

1,259,480.  12 

593,  166.  91 

324,  225.  37 

75,968.92 

39,  289,  76 

658,853.68 

505,497.81 

539.582.35 

128,  205.  84 

213,  796.  20 

116,206.  57 

280,  453.  04 

172,830.78 

473,  684.  25 

368,  523.  72 

1,352,  143.  12 

'  1,  161,250.81 

414,  109.  54 

290,  211.92 

1,697,830.38 

997,  449-  42 

2,  I93,  969.  94 

1,675,382.70 

The  bulk  of  the  machinery  imported  paid  no  duties,  and  is  in- 
cluded under  free  goods. 

The  following  table  shows  the  importation  by  countries : 


Countries 


United  States 

England 

France 

Germany 

Spain 

Italy 

Belgium 

Switzerland 

Austria 

Ecuador 

Colombia 

Venezuela . 

Holland 

India 

China 

Norway 

Bull.  41 7 


Values. 


Dollars. 
22,  669,  420.  71 

6,  337,  98°-  30 

4,  956,  568.  41 

2,  842,  932,  35 

1,  920,  942.  72 

269,  826.  70 

242,  083.  89 

157,444.25 

96,  436.  65 

'89,451.  62 

78,  178.  75 

73,  738.  25 

72,  009.  25 

69,  629.  40 

39,35Lio 

31,  176.  20 


Duties. 


Dollars. 
9,  169,  787.  87 

5,  083,  870.  75 

3,  846,  252.  66 

2,  310,  015.  60 

1,177,177.30 

121,818.  78 

232,  287.  68 

89,  830.  54 

74,814.11 

38,  429.  46 

32,635.35 

25,435.75 
53,  010.  82 
123,  362.  39 
25,  346.  99 
33,  358.  84 


98 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Importation  by  countries,  i88g — Continued. 


Countries. 


Costa  Rica 

Algiers 

Guatemala 

Salvador 

Portugal 

Turkey 

Sweden 

Denmark 

Greece 

Russia 

Peru 

Bolivia 

Australia 

Brazil 

Chili 

Persia 

Japan  

Arabia 

Santo  Domingo 
Argentine  Republic 

Zanzibar 

Uruguay 

Total 


Values. 


Duties. 


Dollars. 

Dollars. 

22,  425.  OO 

6 

580.  29 

13,649.70 

15 

907.  07 

II,  548.22 

3 

636.  93 

II,  315.OO 

4 

644.  38 

9,  132.  OO 

2 

656.  46 

2,  327.  OO 

761.  29 

I,  607.OO 

2 

295.  55 

I,  112.  OO 

729.  75 

i,  089.  00 

462.  66 

833.  40 

386.  65 

772.00 

347-  04 

600.  OO 

277.94 

485.OO 

216.  27 

309.  45 

230.  82 

106.00 

72.60 

102.  OO 

73.89 

95.00 

64.34 

82.  OO 

24.  00 

80.  OO 

60.  12 

30.  OO 

32.25 

20.00 

37.76 

2.00 

10.  00 

40, 024, 894. 32 

22,  477 

962.  95 

Recent  statistics  published  by  the  Mexican  Government  show- 
that  the  exports  from  Mexico  into  the  United  States  have 
increased  so  rapidly  that  the  people  of  this  country  now  take,  all 
but  20  per  cent  of  the  merchandise  exported  from  Mexico, 
although  the  manufactories  of  the  United  States  do  not  furnish 
more  than  half  of  the  imports  of  that  Republic.  Of  the  exports 
of  precious  metals  the  United  States  takes  66  per  cent,  England 
21  per  cent,  Germany  3.7  per  cent,  and  France  7.7  per  cent. 


COMPARATIVE    ANALYSIS    OF  TRADE  OF    UNITED    STATES  WITH 

MEXICO. 

Mr.  Richard  Guenther,  United  States  consul-general  to  Mexico, 
furnishes  the  following  table  to  show  that  Mexico  does  not  wish  to 
strangle  commerce  with  the  United  States.  The  figures  represent 
trade  with  outside  countries  for  the  year  ending  May  31,  1891  : 


MEXICO. 


99 


United  States 

England 

France 

Germany 

Spain 

All  other  countries 

Total 


Total  of  impor- 
tations. 


Dollars. 
22,  669,  420 

6,  337,  980 
4,  956,  568 
2,  842,  932 
I,  920,  942 
I,  297,  O49 


40,  024,  894 


Free  list. 


Dollars. 

IO,  293,  301 

2,  050,  826 

322,  379 

299,  136 

448,  685 

91,  900 


13,  506,  230 


Dutiable     mer- 
chandise. 


Dollars. 
12,376,  119 

4,287,153 
4,  634,  189 

2,  543.  795 
1,472,257 
1,  205,  149 


Duties. 


Dollars. 
9,  169,  787 
5,  083,  870 
3,  846,  252 
2,  310,  015 

I,H7,I77 
890,  858 


26,  518,  664 


22,  477,  962 


Per cent of 
duties. 


Per  cent. 

74-1 
118.  6 
83.0 
90.04 

79-9 
74.6 


84.7 


It  can  easily  be  seen  by  examining  the  table  that  the  United 
States  is  not  discriminated  against,  because  England's  percentage 
of  duty  on  goods  entering  Mexico  is  1 18.6  per  cent,  while  that  of 
this  nation  is  but  74.1  per  cent — in  fact,  less  than  any  other  of  the 
great  commercial  nations.    The  other  figures  speak  for  themselves. 

Mr.  Guenther  has  also  prepared  the  following  comparative  anal- 
ysis of  Mexican  imports : 


United  States. 


Value. 


Duties. 


England. 


Value. 


Duties. 


Articles  on  free  list 

Cottons 

Linens 

Woolens 

Silks 

Silks  with 

Alimentary  substances 

Stones  and  earth 

Crystal  and  porcelain 

Gold,  silver,  and  platinum 

Iron  and  steel 

Copper  and  its  alloys 

Tin,  lead,  and  zinc 

Fancy  goods 

Machines  and  apparatus 

Wagons  and  carriages 

Arms,  powder,  and  ammunition. 

Wood  and  its  manufactures 

Paper  and  pasteboard 

Furriers'  goods 

Medicinal  drugs  and  chemicals. . 
Divers  objects 

Total 


Dollars. 
IO,  293,  301 

3,  834,  784 

80,  804 

380,  108 

72,  857 

48,  619 

2,  115,088 
26,  287 

243,  033 

36,  728 

815,225 

261,418 

20,  771 

236,  454 

436,  736 

191,  664 

200,  914 

301,  649 

378,  395 

188,  817 

1,  184,  809 

1,  320,  951 


22,  669,  420 


Dollars. 


2,  742,  828 

87,116 

508,  782 

69,  5OI 

48,  158 

I,  742,  165 

15,293 

254,651 

2,956 

565,  752 

128,  I39 

8,  q8i 
176,  189 
88,  880 
104,  141 
130,  356 
247,451 
355,719 
159,460 
737,287 
995,  972 


Dollars. 

2,  050,  826 

2,  768,  34I 

383,  946 

364,  39° 

27,  896 

27,  097 

57,032 

1,088 

l6,  225 

687 

337,  595 

66,  857 

10,  843 

24,  582 

3,46i 

415 

7,034 

7,124 

32,  528 

10,  443 

88,  545 

51,  018 


Dollars. 


3,  601,  784 

386,  656 
399-  920 

20,  573 

22,  593 

53,  876 

489 

28,677 

373 

372,  990 

50,  563 

4,340 

n,  566 

1,144 

147 

2,  243 

4,372- 

27,  751 

5,585 

52,  116 

36, 101 


9,  169,  787 


6,  337,  980 


5,083,870 


lOO  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Information  from  Mexico  indicates  that  the  manufacture  of  cot- 
ton goods  is  being  actively  prosecuted  in  this  country.  This  is 
more  particularly  shown  by  the  following  statement  of  the  imports 
of  these  goods  from  Great  Britain  in  the  past  nine  months:  In 
1890  the  value  of  unbleached  stuffs  was  $19,636;  bleached, 
$683,159;  prints,  $662,642;  dyed,  $187,404;  making  the  total 
importations  for  that  year  $  1,552,841.  This  year  the  values  of  the 
imports  for  the  same  period  are  as  follows  :  Unbleached,  $22,289 » 
bleached,  $843,729;  prints,  $449,908;  dyed,  $174,196;  total, 
$1,490,122.  This  falling  off  in  importations  of  the  prints  and 
dyed  stuffs  is  almost  entirely  due  to  the  marked  improvement 
made  by  the  domestic  manufacturers  in  the  quality  of  their  goods. 

ADOPTION  OF  A  NEW  COMMERCIAL  CODE. 

The  Republic  of  Mexico  has  recently  adopted  a  new  commer- 
cial code  affecting  foreign  merchants  in  that  country.  The  fol- 
lowing are  the  most  important  provisions : 

Every  foreign  commercial  house  desirous  of  conducting  business  in  Mexico 
must  have  its  company's  contracts  registered,  and  joint  stock  companies  will  be 
required,  further,  to  publish  monthly  a  statement  of  their  affairs.  The  non- 
fulfillment of  these  regulations  will  entail  the  responsibility  of  the  representatives 
of  these  companies  in  Mexico. 

The  establishment  of  warehouses  is  permitted  for  storing  as  well  as  for  the 
deposit,  superintendence,  and  sale  of  the  goods.  Every  depositor  will  receive 
a  warrant  and  this  warrant  may  be  given  as  security.  The  holder  of  the  war- 
rant is  entitled  to  the  goods,  even  in  event  of  the  depositor  being  declared 
bankrupt  after  giving  up  the  warrant. 

The  legal  rate  of  discount  is  reduced  from  1  2  to  6  per  cent. 

The  mortgage  duty  on  real  estate  is  abolished. 

A  petition  for  bankruptcy  may  be  presented  by  a  creditor  and  the  holder  of  a 
protested  bill.  Hitherto  action  has  been  taken  by  three  creditors  and  when 
three  protested  bills  were  presented. 


*  MEXICO.  lOl 

THE  FREE  ZONE  IN  MEXICO. 

\By  M.  Romero,  Mexican  Minister  to  the  United  States.] 
[By  permission  of  the  North  American  Review.] 

In  the  northern  part  of  Mexico,  along  its  border  line  with  the 
United  States,  there  extends  a  strip  of  land  which  is  governed  by 
trade  regulations  wholly  different  from  those  of  the  rest  of  the 
Republic.  This  strip  is  known  as  the  Free  Zone,  or,  in  Spanish, 
Zona  Libre,  and  it  is,  it  seems  to  me,  an  institution  wholly  mis- 
understood in  this  country.  The  general  opinion  seems  to  be, 
first,  that  it  was  established  by  Mexico  as  an  act  of  antagonism, 
if  not  of  unfriendliness,  toward  the  United  States,  and,  second, 
that  its  main,  if  not  its  sole,  purpose  was  to  encourage  smuggling, 
to  the  prejudice  of  the  fiscal  interests  of  this  country.  I  wish  to 
show  how  unfounded  such  impressions  are ;  and,  prompted  as  I 
am  by  a  due  regard  for  a  fair  understanding  and  harmony  between 
the  two  countries,  I  believe  it  will  not  be  considered  presump- 
tuous on  my  part  to  offer  some  statements  concerning  that  subject. 
I  will  not  be  expected  to  write  in  defense  of  the  Free  Zone.  The 
official  records  of  Mexico  show  that,  far  from  being  its  friend,  I 
have  ever  been  its  most  earnest  opponent,  and  I  am  the  only 
Mexican  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  who  has  so  far  officially  advised 
its  abolition.  I  intend  to  consider  the  matter  impartially  and 
fairly,  and  to  do  this  I  will  first  state  how  the  Zona  Libre  origi- 
nated in  Mexico,  and  then  define  what  we  mean  by  that  term. 

When,  in  pursuance  of  the  treaty  of  February  2,  1848,  the 
Rio  Grande  River,  from  ElPaso  del  Norte  to  the  point  where  it 
flows  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  was  accepted  as  the  boundary  line 
between  Mexico  and  the  United  States,  new  settlements  sprang 
up  on  both  banks  of  the  river,  and  things  began  to  take  their  level 
under  the  new  conditions,  The  two  nations,  which  so  far  had 
been  separated  by  a  desert,  were  at  once  brought  into  close  con- 
tact with  one  another,  and  it  was  found  that  the  economical  and 


102  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION.  ' 

commercial  conditions  on  the  north  and  south  banks  of  the  Rio 
Grande  were  in  striking  contrast  to  each  other.  In  the  towns  of 
the  United  States  along  the  north  bank  no  taxes  were  levied  and 
no  restrictions  of  any  kind  were  imposed  upon  internal  trade.  The 
import  duties  on  foreign  goods  brought  into  the  United  States 
were  at  that  time  relatively  low,  and  this  country  was  then  at  the 
beginning  of  its  unexampled  career  of  material  progress  and  pros- 
perity. On  the  opposite  bank,  in  Mexico,  the  towns  were  loaded 
down  with  the  onerous  system  of  taxation  which  had  come  down 
to  us  from  the  Spaniards.  The  heavy  taxes  which  were  levied  on 
internal  commerce  had  largely  increased  the  cost  of  foreign  and 
domestic  goods,  and  the  collection  of  those  taxes  made  a  system 
of  interior  custom-houses,  with  all  their  attending  evils,  a  neces- 
sary institution.  There  were  many  and  very  onerous  restrictions 
both  upon  foreign  and  domestic  trade,  and  the  import  duties  on 
foreign  goods  were  so  high  as  to  be,  in  many  cases,  practically 
prohibitory.  Many  commodities  were  actully  excluded  from  the 
country  under  the  plea  of  protection  to  our  national  industries,  and 
among  these  were  articles  of  prime  necessity,  such  as  grain  and 
provisions.  The  result  of  this  condition  of  things  was  that  radi- 
cally different  prices  prevailed  in  the  towns  on  both  sides  of  the 
river.  At  Brownsville,  Tex.,  for  instance,  on  the  north  bank  of 
the  Rio  Grande,  all  sorts  of  domestic  articles  and  the  necessaries 
oflife,  such  as  provisions  and  clothing,  were  bought  at  a  low  price, 
while  in  Matamoras  and  other  Mexican  towns,  on  the  south  bank, 
the  same  articles  of  domestic  production,  and  often  of  an  inferior 
quality,  cost  twice  and  even  four  times  as  much  as  at  the  stores 
just  across  the  river.  A  still  greater  disproportion  existed  in  the 
price  of  foreign  goods  on  either  side  of  the  river,  and  the  cheapest 
commodities  were  always  sold  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
This  difference  of  taxation  and  consequently  of  prices  on  the 
frontier  necessarily  brought  about  one  of  two  results.  It  either 
caused  the  inhabitants  of  the  Mexican  towns  to  emigrate  to  the 


MEXICO.  103 

settlements  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  in  order  to  enjoy  the 
advantages  which  were  to  be  had  in  this  country,  or  it  induced 
them  to  purchase  in  the  United  States  the  goods  which  they 
needed  and  to  smuggle  them  across  the  Rio  Grande  to  their  homes 
in  Mexico. 

In  1849,  tne  year  following  the  adoption  of  the  new  boundary 
line  by  the  two  countries,  the  situation  on  the  Mexican  frontier 
became  so  untenable  and  disquieting  that  our  Federal  Congress 
was  obliged  to  pass,  on  the  14th  of  April  of  that  year,  a  law  author- 
izing for  three  years  the  importation  through  the  frontier  custom- 
houses of  the  State  of  Tamaulipas  of  such  provisions  as  were 
needed  for  the  use  of  the  people  of  the  frontier.  Such  goods  had 
up  to  that  time  been  prohibited  by  the  existing  tariff,  or  had  been 
subject  to  almost  prohibitory  duties.  This  law  did  not  meet  the 
exigencies  of  the  situation,  because  it  was  restricted  to  provisions, 
and  these  were  not  the  only  things  that  men  require  for  their  life 
and  comfort. 

On  August  30,  1852,  the  United  States  Congress  passed  a  law 
by  which  the  contrast  between  the  conditions  of  the  two  sides  of 
the  Rio  Grande  was  made  still  greater,  and  the  condition  of  things 
on  the  Mexican  side  became  worse  than  ever.  By  that  act  for- 
eign goods  could  be  sent  in  bond  to  Mexico  over  certain  routes 
specified  in  the  law  and  others  to  be  authorized  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury.  These  goods  could  be  held  on  the  frontier  in 
the  United  States  until  a  favorable  opportunity  came  for  their  ex- 
portation into  Mexico,  and  they  were  free  of  all  duties  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States.  There  was  no  similar  privilege  within  the 
territory  of  Mexico,  and  all  foreign  goods,  of  whatever  kind 
they  might  be,  were  there  subject  to  the  payment  of  duty  upon 
their  importation.  The  result  was  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Mexican  side  of  the  river  were  placed  under  such  disadvantages 
that  the  public  men  of  Tamaulipas,  the  only  State  which  at  that 
time  had  towns  on  the  border  facing  the  border  villages  of  Texas, 


104  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

came  to  believe  that  they  must  have  privileges  similar  to  those 
existing  in  the  United  "States,  to  enable  them  to  live  on  the 
frontier.  It  was  this  belief  that  originated  the  Free  Zone,  and,  in 
the  unsettled  condition  of  Mexico,  such  men  soon  found  an  op- 
portunity to  bring  about  what  they  desired. 

This  statement  of  facts  shows  that  the  Free  Zone  was  not  really 
an  invention  of  the  Mexican  authorities  of  the  State  of  Tamauli- 
pas,  but  an  imitation  on  a  larger  scale  of  a  similar  measure  enacted 
more  than  five  years  previously  by  the  United  States  Government 
for  the  benefit  of  that  portion  of  its  territory  bordering  on  Mexico. 

On  February  5,  1857,  we  adopted  our  present  constitution, 
which  went  into  operation  on  the  16th  of  the  following  Septem- 
ber. On  the  1st  of  December  of  that  year,  General  Don  Ignacio 
Comonfort,  who  had  just  been  elected  President  under  the  new 
constitution,  was  inaugurated.  Two  weeks  later  he  unfortunately 
issued  a  pronunciamento  against  the  very  constitution  to  which 
he  owed  his  election  and  consequently  the  legality  of  his  powers, 
and  he  thereupon  dissolved  the  Federal  Congress  then  in  session. 
Almost  all  the  Mexican  States  refused  to  consent  to  such  a  dar- 
ing violation  of  the  constitution,  and  many  of  them,  especially 
those  far  removed  from  the  capital,  reassumed  their  sovereignty, 
and  their  legislatures  granted  extraordinary  powers  to  the  gov- 
ernors, in  order  to  enable  them  to  defend  their  institutions  against 
those  who  had  betrayed  their  trust  in  trying  to  overthrow  the  con- 
stitution, acting  very  much  as  some  of  the  Brazilian  States  re- 
cently did  when  the  president  of  that  Republic,  Marshal  Deodoro 
Da  Fonseca,  attempted  to  assume  the  Dictatorship. 

By  virtue  of  such  powers,  the  governor  of  the  State  of  Tamau- 
lipas  issued  on  March  17,  1858,  a  decree  designed  to  afford  a  rem- 
edy for  the  hardships  from  which  the  frontier  population  of  that 
State  were  then  suffering.  This  decree  established  what  has  since 
that  time  been  known  in  Mexico  as  the  Free  Zone.  It  permitted 
all  foreign  goods  intended  for  the  use  of  the  frontier  towns  of  that 


MEXICO.  IO5 

State,  for  the  ranches  in  their  jurisdiction,  or  for  trade  between 
those  towns  to  be  exempt  from  all  federal  duties,  but  not  from 
municipal  or  State  taxes.  Such  goods  could  remain  in  bond  in 
the  same  towns  either  at  the  house  of  the  importer  or  at  the  public 
warehouse.  The  Federal  Government  not  then  having  ware- 
houses on  the  frontier,  all  packages  had  to  go,  of  course,  to  the 
house  of  the  importer.  Thus,  goods  imported  into  the  frontier 
towns  could  remain  stored  indefinitely  without  paying  any  storage 
or  any  other  charges  to  the  federal  treasury,  and  they  only  paid 
import  duties  when  they  were  taken  from  the  frontier  towns  to  the 
interior  of  Mexico. 

Nothing  could  furnish  a  better  idea  of  the  true  object  of  the  or- 
dinance issued  by  the  governor  of  Tamaulipas,  if  there  were  room 
for  any  well-founded  doubt,  than  the  grounds  on  which  he  based 
his  action,  which  he  stated  in  the  preamble  of  his  decree  in  the  fol- 
lowing words : 

The  citizen  Ramon  Guerra,  governor  ad  interim  of  the  State  of  Tamaulipas: 

Whereas  our  towns  on  our  northern  frontier  are  in  a  state  of  actual  decadence 
for  the  lack  of  laws  to  protect  their  commerce ;  and  whereas,  being  situated  in 
close  proximity  to  a  commercial  nation  which  enjoys  free  trade,  they  need  equal 
advantages  in  order  not  to  lose  their  population,  which  is  constantly  emigrating 
to  the  neighboring  country  :  Now,  therefore,  desiring  to  put  an  end  to  so  serious 
an  evil  by  means  of  franchises  which  have  so  long  been  demanded  by  the  frontier 
trade,  favorably  considering  the  petition  of  the  inhabitants  of  Matamoras,  and 
using  the  extraordinary  faculties  with  which  I  am  invested  by  the  decree  of 
December  28  of  the  honorable  legislature  of  the  State,  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  council,  I  have  seen  fit  to  decree  as  follows,  etc. 

The  articles  of  the  decree  which  I  give  below  contain  the  main 

provisions  about  the  free  zone  and  show  exactly  how  far  it  was 

intended  to  go : 

Article  1. 

Foreign  goods  designed  for  the  consumption  of  the  city  of  Matamoras  and  of 
the  other  towns  on  the  bank  of  the  Rio  Bravo,  Reynosa,  Camargo,  Mier,- 
Guerrero,  and  Monterey  Laredo,  and  for  the  trade  which  these  towns  carry  on 
among  themselves,  shall  be  free  from  all  duties,  with  the  exception  of  municipal 


106  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

duties  and  such  taxes  as  may  be  imposed  to  the  end  that  the  burdens  of  the 
State  may  be  borne.  In  like  manner,  goods  deposited  in  Government  ware- 
houses or  in  warehouses  belonging  to  private  individuals  in  the  said  towns 
shall  be  free  of  duties  so  long  as  they  are  not  conveyed  inland  to  the  other  towns 
of  the  State  or  of  the  Republic.  The  terms  on  which  this  trade  is  to  be  con- 
ducted are  laid  down  in  the  following  articles. 

******* 

Article  7. 

Foreign  goods  leaving  the  privileged  towns  to  be  conveyed  into  the  interior 
of  the  Republic  shall,  at  the  time  of  so  doing,  become  subject  to  the  duties  laid 
upon  them  by  the  tariff,  and  they  shall  never  be  conveyed  into  the  interior  with- 
out having  paid,  at  tne  custom-house  of  their  place  of  departure,  all  duties  which 
are  required  to  be  paid  in  the  port,  and  without  the  observance  of  all  the  re- 
quirements and  provisions  of  the  laws  in  force,  in  order  not  to  be  molested  or 
detained  on  their  way. 

The  governor  of  Tamaulipas  foresaw  that  his  decree  would 
naturally  facilitate  smuggling,  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  federal 
treasury  of  Mexico,  but  I  am  sure  he  little  imagined  that  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States  would  suffer  in  consequence 
thereof,  and  he  earnestly  recommended  the  citizens  of  the  State 
to  try  to  prevent  such  a  result  by  all  means  in  their  power,  as 
appears  from  the  following  article  of  his  decree  : 

Article  8. 

As  the'  privilege  granted  by  this  decree  ought  not  to  cause  any  detriment  to 
the  national  revenue,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  frontier  to  prevent, 
by  all  the  means  in  their  power,  this  privilege  from  being  converted  into  a 
shameful  smuggling  traffic;  it  is,  therefore,  the  duty  of  every  inhabitant  of  the 
frontier  voluntarily  to  become  a  sentinel,  constantly  on  the  watch"  to  prevent 
smuggling ;  otherwise,  the  Government  will  be  under  the  painful  necessity  of 
withdrawing  this  privilege  by  revoking  the  present  decree. 

The  governor's  decree  ended  with  this  article : 

Article  9. 

This  decree  shall  be  subject  to  the  revision  and  approval  of  the  legislature  of 
the  State  at  its  next  meeting  in  ordinary  session  and  to  that  of  the  Federal  I 


MEXICO.  lOJ 

gress  when  constitutional  order  shall  be  restored,  although  it  shall  go  into  force 
as  soon  as  published  in  the  privileged  towns. 

Therefore  I  order  it   to   be  printed,  published,  circulated,  and  duly  enforced. 
Done  at  Ciudad  Victoria,  March  17,  1858. 

Ramon   Guerra. 
Jose*  Maria   Olivera, 

Chief  Official. 

The  foregoing  decree  was  confirmed  and  amplified  under  the 
plea  of  establishing  regulations  for  its  execution  by  another  decree 
of  the  governor  of  Tamaulipas,  bearing  date  of  October  29,  1 860. 
The  former  decree  was  submitted,  in  compliance  with  the  provis- 
ions of  its  last  article,  tov  the  legislature  of  the  State,  and  also  to  the 
Federal  Congress  for  its  approval,  and  was  sanctioned  by  the  latter 
body  July  30,  1861. 

This  brief  statement  will,  I  think,  be  sufficient  to  show  that  the 
establishment  of  the  Free  Zone  was  a  step  taken  in  fulfillment  of 
the  duty  of  self  preservation,  so  to  speak,  and  imitating  similar 
measures  adopted  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  that 
it  was  by  no  means  a  measure  approved  in  a  spirit  of  unfriendli- 
ness, much  less  of  hostility,  towards  the  United  States,  as  has 
been  generally  believed  in  this  country. 

The  second  impression  prevailing  here  in  regard  to  the  Free  Zone 
is  equally  unfounded,  as  I  will  try  to  show.  The  events  connected 
with  the  foreign  intervention  in  Mexico  did  not  permit  the  natural 
effects  of  the  Free  Zone  to  be  felt  in  the  country  until  the  Repub- 
lic returned  to  its  normal  condition,  that  is,  until  after  the  downfall 
of  the  French  intervention  and  the  so-called  Empire  of  Maximil- 
ian, events  which  took  place  during  the  year  of  1867.  In  January 
of  1868  I  was  called  to  the  Treasury  Department  by  President 
Juarez,  and  in  my  annual  report  to  Congress,  September  16  of 
that  year,  I  stated  that  one  of  the  causes  of  the  then  depleted  con- 
dition of  the  Mexican  treasury  was  the  large  contraband  trade  that 
was  carried  on  through  the  Free  Zone  and  enjoyed  by  the  frontier 
towns  of  Tamaulipas ;  further  remarking  that  the  custom-houses  of 


108  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

those  towns  were  scarcely  able  to  meet  their  clerk  and  office  ex- 
penses, and  that  this  fact  showed  that  the  Free  Zone  had  not  made 
that  region  prosper ;  and  that,  in  my  opinion,  that  institution  was 
not  the  proper  remedy  for  the  evil  which  it  was  intended  to  cure. 

It  is  true  that  the  privilege  granted  by  the  Free  Zone  to  the  in- 
habitants of  the  northern  portion  of  Tamaulipas  to  import  and  con- 
sume foreign  goods  without  paying  federal  duties,  to  store  them 
in  their  own  houses,  and  to  keep  them  in  bond  for  an  unlimited 
time,  was  a  powerful  incentive  to  smuggling  from  the  Free  Zone 
either  to  Mexico  or  the  United  States;  and  that  Mexico,  which 
has  suffered  greatly  by  that  result,  has  been  obliged,  with  a  view 
to  the  repression  of  smuggling,  to  establish  a  costly,  oppressive, 
and  complicated  system  of  inspection;  but  protection  to  smug- 
gling was  not  the  object  of  the  creators  of  the  Free  Zone,  nor  is  it 
possible  that  smuggling  should  have  been  carried  on  to  the  preju- 
dice of  the  United  States,  to  the  same  extent  to  which  it  has  been 
done  to  the  disadvantage  of  Mexico. 

As  the  duties  levied  by  the  Mexican  tariff  are  much  higher  than 
those  collected  by  the  United  States,  it  is  evident  that  the  most 
lucrative  contraband  trade,  and  the  easier  one  to  make,  is  that  which 
is  carried  on  to  the  detriment  of  the  Mexican  Treasury.  Smug- 
gling is  more  easily  done  in  Mexico,  because  the  Mexican  frontier 
is  very  sparsely  populated,  and  therefore  the  difficulty  of  guarding 
it  is  greatly  increased,  while  the  frontier  of  the  United  States  is 
more  thickly  settled  and  better  protected  against  illicit  traffic. 

It  does  not  seem  to  me  reasonable  to  imagine  that  the  Free 
Zone  was  established  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  smuggling, 
to  the  detriment  of  the  United  States  Treasury,  when  in  fact  it 
harms  Mexico  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  it  does  this  country, 
as,  in  order  to  injure  the  United  States,  the  Mexicans  would  not 
be  willing  to  injure  themselves  ten  times  as  much ;  and  if  the  con- 
traband trade  carried  on  under  the  shadow  of  the  Free  Zone  was  a 
sufficient  reason  for  its  suppression,  the  interest  of  Mexico  in  this 
matter  would  long  since  have  settled  the  question. 


MEXICO.  *  IO9 

Any  human  institution  can  be  abused  by  men.  The  goods 
stored  in  the  frontier  towns  of  the  United  States,  in  accordance 
with  the  act  of  August  30,  1852,  were  easily  smuggled  into  Mexico, 
and  yet  when  the  United  States  Congress  passed  that  law,  they 
did  not  intend,  of  course,  to  encourage  smuggling,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  Mexico,  although  such  was  practically  its  result.  In  the 
same  manner  the  Governor  of  Tamaulipas  at  first,  and  the  Mexi- 
can Congress  afterwards,  did  not  intend,  in  establishing  the  Free 
Zone,  to  encourage  smuggling,  to  the  detriment  of  the  United 
States.  To  prevent  smuggling  from  the  Free  Zone,  as  far  as  this 
was  possible,  the  Mexican  Government  has  been  obliged  to  dupli- 
cate its  frontiers  of  inspection  with  the  United  States,  at  great 
expense  and  considerable  inconvenience  to  bona-fide  merchants,  as 
it  has,  besides  the  custom-houses  right  on  the  boundary  line  with 
proper  inspection  between  each  of  them,  some  distance  further  south, 
under  the  name  of  fiscal  police,  another  system  of  custom-houses 
and  inspection  to  prevent  smuggling  between  the  Free  Zone  and 
the  rest  of  the  country. 

What  would  the  people  of  the  United  States  think  if  Mexico 
should  charge  that  such  provisions  of  the  tariff  of  this  country  as 
are  lower  and  more  liberal  than  ours  were  enacted  by  the  United 
States  to  encourage  smuggling,  or  if  they  should  demand  that  the 
tariff  be  changed  because  it  did  encourage  smuggling?  What 
would  the  people  of  this  country  think  if  we  should  ask  them  to 
repeal  the  act  of  August  20,  1852,  because  it  encouraged  smug- 
gling in  Mexico?  The  Mexican  people  feel  exactly  as  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  would  feel  if  the  circumstances  were 
reversed. 

I  think  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  make  a  few  remarks  about  the 
different  phases  that  the  Free  Zone  question  has  assumed  in 
Mexico,  since  the  restoration  of  the  Republic  in  1867.  The 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  of  the  Fifth  Mexican  Congress 
reported,  in  its  session  of  1870,  a  tariff  bill  which  sanctioned  the 


HO  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Free  Zone,  and  this  matter  was  fully  discussed  during  the  latter 
part  of  October  and  the  beginning  of  November  of  that  year. 
Members  of  the  Cabinet  have  in  Mexico,  not  only  the  privilege 
of  the  floor  in  both  houses,  as  in  the  United  States,  but  the  right 
to  participate  in  the  debate  and  to  express  the  views  of  the  Execu- 
tive. As  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  Mexico,  I  made  a  thorough 
study  of  this  important  and  complicated  subject,  and  I  took  part 
in  that  debate  in  the  sessions  of  the  House  of  the  28th  and  29th 
of  October,  and  4th  and  5th  of  November,  1870,  making  extended 
remarks  against  the  Free  Zone,  and  I  recommended  its  abolition 
to  Congress,  in  behalf  of  the  Executive.  The  reasons  which  led 
me  to  this  conclusion  were  mainly  of  a  constitutional  character, 
namely,  that  the  Free  Zone  constituted  a  privilege  in  favor  of  a 
State,  forbidden  by  our  constitution;  and  that  although  I  was 
aware  that  the  situation  of  the  frontier  towns  of  Mexico  required 
the  adoption  of  suitable  remedies,  I  thought  that  one  could  be 
found  of  such  nature  as  would  embrace  the  whole  country,  and  be 
divested  of  the  odious  character  of  a  privilege.  My  efforts  were 
in  vain ;  Congress  voted  in  favor  of  the  maintenance  of  the  Free 
Zone ;  and  although  that  vote  never  became  a  law,  the  tariff  then 
under  discussion  nevertheless  exercised  great  influence  upon  the 
existing  and  other  administrations,  as  it  showed  what  was  the 
opinion  of  the  representatives  of  the  people  on  that  question. 

The  abolition  of  the  Free  Zone  was  agitated  in  Mexico  after  I 
left  the  Treasury  Department  in  November,  1872.  When,  four 
years  later,  in  1878,  I  was  again  at  the  head  of  that  Department 
and  saw  that  it  was  not  possible  then  to  abolish  the  Free  Zone, 
because  the  frontier  influences  were  then  stronger  than  ever,  I 
thought  that  we  ought  at  least  to  make  proper  regulations,  with  a 
view  to  prevent,  as  far  as  possible,  any  abuses  of  its  franchises,  and 
the  regulations  of  June  17,  1878,  were  then  issued.  After  that 
there  was  a  strong  reaction  in  favor  of  the  Free  Zone,  especially 
when  General  Gonzalez,  a  citizen  of  the  State  of  Tamaulipas, 
became  President  from  1880  to  1884. 


MEXICO.  1  1  1 

General  Diaz  succeeded  General  Gonzalez  on  December  l, 
1 884,  and  in  a  new  tariff  act  issued  by  him,  January  24,  1885, 
the  Free  Zone,  which  had  been  up  to  that  time  restricted  to  the 
State  of  Tamaulipas,  was  extended  to  the  whole  frontier,  namely, 
to  the  States  of  Coahuila,  Chihuahua,  and  Sonora,  and  to  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Lower  California,  for  a  distance  of  20  kilometers  from 
the  boundary  line,  thereby  placing  it  on  a  better  footing  than  it 
was  before,  when  it  appeared  as  a  privilege  confined  to  a  single 
State  and  denied  to  others  which  were  exactly  in  the  same  con- 
dition. But  the  same  tariff  act,  which  so  extended  the  Free  Zone, 
limited  considerably  its  franchises  by  the  regulations  contained  in 
Chapter  xn  of  the  tariff  of  January  24,  1885.  The  frontier  towns 
and  the  representatives  in  Congress,  however,  exerted  such  pres- 
sure in  the  Federal  Congress,  that  by  an  act  dated  June  19,  1885, 
the  limitations  established  in  that  tariff  were  suspended,  and  very 
liberal  regulations  were  again  adopted  in  the  succeeding  tariff  of 
March  1,  1887,  which  remained  in  force  until  the  present  one  of 
June  12,  1891,  was  issued.  This  act  marked  a  new  era,  in  so  far 
as  the  Free  Zone  is  concerned,  as  article  676  of  the  same  subjects 
all  foreign  goods  coming  to  the  Free  Zone,  which  heretofore  had 
been  free  of  all  import  duties,  to  a  duty  often  per  centum  upon 
the  import  duties  in  the  other  Mexican  ports,  excepting  cattle  of 
all  kinds,  which  will  pay  full  duties.  I  consider  this  provision  as 
the  beginning  of  a  new  system  which  will  finally  result  in  doing 
away  with  that  institution. 

As  I  have  already  remarked,  the  opinion  of  Mexican  states- 
men on  the  Free  Zone  question  has  been  divided,  some  enter- 
taining the  belief  that  it  should  be  abolished  because  it  grants  to 
one  section  of  the  country  privileges  which  are  not  authorized  by 
the  constitution,  and  others,  by  far  the  largest  number,  holding 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  it  was  an  imperative  necessity,  as  its 
abolition  would  be  equivalent  to  the  destruction  of  the  frontier. 
The  friends  of  the  Free  Zone  reDresented  that  the  frontier  towns 


112  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

of  Mexico  owed  their  prosperity  to  that  institution,  and  that  they 
could  not  exist  without  it.  There  was  a  coincidence,  which  is 
one  of  the  causes  that  induced  a  great  many  Mexicans  to  attribute 
to  the  Free  Zone  more  beneficial  results  than  it  has  really  pro- 
duced, and  this  circumstance,  to  which  I  shall  refer,  has  had  a 
great  influence  in  its  maintenance  and  extension. 

The  situation  of  the  Mexican  frontier  up  to  the  beginning  of 
the  Civil  War  in  the  United  States  was,  as  I  have  already  re- 
marked, one  of  poverty  and  even  of  misery,  and  formed  a  striking 
contrast  with  the  one  existing  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
That  war  broke  out  almost  simultaneously  with  the  establishment 
of  the  Free  Zone,  and  the  situation  of  the  Mexican  frontier 
changed  very  materially  as  a  consequence  of  the  war,  during  which, 
and  for  some  time  afterwards,  welfare  and  prosperity  crossed  from 
the  left  to  the  right  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande,  on  account  of  the 
general  prostration  then  prevailing  in  the  South.  Superficial  ob- 
servers attributed  that  prosperity  not  to  its  true  cause,  which,  in  my 
opinion,  was  the  war,  but  to  the  Free  Zone ;  and  feeling  convinced 
that  it  had  been  productive  of  extraordinarily  favorable  results, 
they  naturally  considered  it  as  a  panacea  for  all  evils,  and  its  ex- 
tension as  one  of  the  country's  most  imperative  necessities.  The 
latter  opinion  finally  prevailed  in  the  councils  of  the  Mexican 
Government  from  1877  to  1885,  an<^  tms  ^e<^  to  t^le  extension  of 
the  Free  Zone  to  all  the  boundary  States. 

There  is  another  point  of  view  of  this  question,  which,  in  my 
judgment,  has  so  far  passed  entirely  unnoticed.  The  Free  Zone 
is  really  an  advantage  to  the  United  States,  since,  as  I  have  al- 
ready stated,  the  Mexican  system  of  legislation  concerning  cus- 
toms and  excise  duties  has  generally  been  restrictive  and  even 
prohibitory,  both  by  reason  of  the  high  import  duties  and  of  the  ex- 
istence of  inferior  custom-houses,  and  also  of  State  and  municipal 
taxes  on  foreign  goods,  which  require  vigilance  and  restrictions 
that  can  not  but  hamper  business  transactions.     Any  relaxation 


MEXICO.  113 

of  such  a  system  of  restriction  can  not  but  be  favorable  to  foreign 
nations  trading  with  Mexico,  and  specially  to  a  neighboring  coun- 
try like  the  United  States,  whose  manufactures  are  mainly,  if  not 
exclusively,  consumed  on  the  Mexican  frontier. 

If  the  Free  Zone  has  inconveniences  for  this  country  much  less 
serious  than  those  which  it  has  for  Mexico,  it  possesses,  in  my 
judgment,  another  decided  advantage  which  has  also  remained 
hitherto  unnoticed.  It  practically  makes  of  a  portion  of  Mexico 
a  free  market  for  all  products  and  manufactures  of  the  United 
States,  since  merchandise  of  all  kinds  from  this  country  may  be 
imported  into  and  consumed  on  Mexican  territory  duty  free,  and 
be  warehoused  in  the  region  of  the  zone  for  an  unlimited  time. 
No  greater  privilege  can  be  asked  for  the  commerce  of  a  nation, 
and  the  only  drawback  in  this  respect  that  I  see  to  the  Free  Zone 
is  that  it  does  not  embrace  the  whole  of  Mexico.  Supposing  its 
privileges  were  extended  to  the  whole  of  Mexico,  would  the  United 
States  consider  the  free  admission  of  their  products  in  my  country 
as  prejudicial  to  their  interests'?  How  strange  it  appears  under 
this  view  of  the  question — the  idea  prevailing  here  that  the  Free 
Zone  brings  only  harm  to  the  United  States  and  has  been  estab- 
lished to  the  advantage  of  only  European  goods,  when  the  largest 
amount  of  goods  imported  there  under  its  franchises  are  from  the 
United  States ! 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  been  recently  trying 
in  a  very  earnest  manner  to  obtain  from  foreign  countries,  and 
specially  from  the  American  republics,  the  free  entry,  or  the  ad- 
mission at  a  reduced  rate  of  duties,  of  a  limited  number  of  its 
products  and  manufactures,  and  they  naturally  feel  pleased  when  a 
new  agreement  is  made.  And  yet  the  liberal  terms  provided  by 
Mexico  in  favor  of  the  free  admission  of  all  the  products  and 
manufactures  of  this  country  into  our  Free  Zone,  has  been  taken 
here  as  an  unfriendly  act  on  our  part  towards  this  country. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  right  of  the  Government  of 
Bull.  41 8 


1  14  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Mexico  to  establish  such  duties  and  regulations  on  the  foreign 
trade  of  the  country,  even  in  case  they  would  harm  in  any  manner 
the  mercantile  interests  of  any  other  foreign  nations,  and  I  there- 
fore think  it  unnecessary  to  establish  the  right  of  Mexico  to  adopt 
and  maintain  the  Free  Zone. 

I  think  it  proper  on  this  occasion  to  state  that  the  misunder- 
standing which  has  prevailed  here  with  regard  to  the  object  and 
tendencies  of  the  Free  Zone  and  the  manner  in  which  that  mis- 
understanding has  been  expressed  by  certain  Federal  and  State 
officials,  has  really  served  as  a  powerful  argument  to  the  Mexican 
defenders  of  the  Free  Zone  who  accuse  their  opponents  of  sub- 
serviency to  this  country,  attributing  to  them  a  design  to  sacrifice 
the  interests  of  Mexico  to  the  demands  of  the  United  States.  It 
may  not  be  out  of  place  for  me  to  quote  here  certain  views  regard- 
ing this  aspect  of  the  question  that  I  expressed  as  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  of  Mexico,  in  my  annual  report  submitted  to  the  Federal 
Congress  under  date  of  vSeptember  16,  1870,  and  which  are  as 
follows  : 

The  friendly  representations  made  by  the  United  States  Government  to  that 
of  the  Republic  in  relation  to  the  injury  accruing  to  the  United  States  from  the 
Free  Zone  are  also  worthy  of  being  taken  into  consideration  by  Congress,  not 
that  it  may  seek  to  please  the  neighboring  nation  in  a  spirit  of  servility,  at  the 
expense  of  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  Republic,  which  it  is  under  obligations 
to  care  for  and  uphold  above  everything  else  (which  spirit  would  be  unworthy 
of  our  national  representatives),  but  as  a  neighborly  act,  and  in  order  to  have 
a  right  to  be  heard  and  treated  with  consideration  in  case  that  in  the  process  of 
time  some  difficulty  may  arise  on  our  northern  frontier  of  such  a  nature  as  to 
possess,  regarding  Mexico,  the  character  which  the  Free  Zone  possesses  as  re- 
gards our  neighboring  nation;  in  order,  moreover,  that  Mexico  may  acquire  a 
new  title  to  be  heard  and  considered  in  a  cordial  and  friendly,  as  well  as  just 
and  equitable,  manner  when  she  may  have  occasion  to  offer  remonstrances  with 
a  view  to  the  protection  of  her  interests.  A  nation's  dignity  is  not  so  well  up- 
held by  refusing  to  consider  the  moderate  and  amicable  remonstrances  of  a  neigh- 
boring nation,  as  it  is  by  hearing  and  considering  such  remonstrances  and  then 
acting  according  to  the  requirements  of  justice. 


MEXICO. 


'15 


For  more  detailed  information  on  this  subject,  and  especially 
for  the  English  translation  of  some  of  the  official  documents  bear- 
ing on  the  same,  I  refer  the  reader  to  a  message  which  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  sent  to  the  Senate  on  March  16,  1888 
(Senate  Ex.  Doc.  No.  130,  Fiftieth  Congress,  first  session),  and 
to  the  report  and  accompanying  documents  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  the  relations 
of  the  United  States  with  Mexico,  presented  by  Mr.  Schleicher 
on  the  25th  of  April,  1878  (House  Report,  No.  701,  Forty-fifth 
Congress,  second  session. 

I  sincerely  hope  that  the  foregoing  remarks  will  in  some  meas- 
ure contribute  to  dispel  the  wrong  impressions  prevailing  in  the 
United  States  as  to  the  Mexican  Free  Zone,  and  that  thereby, 
when  the  agitation  on  this  subject  shall  have  completely  disap- 
peared, it  will  be  then  easier  to  adjust  this  matter  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  will  be  honorable  and  satisfactory  to  all  concerned. 

REVISION  OF  THE  MEXICAN  SYSTEM  OF  TAXATION. 

The  following  important  information  from  the  City  of  Mexico 
regarding  the  revision  of  the  Mexican  system  of  taxation  has  been 
received : 

Realizing  that  the  imposition  of  taxes  on  imported  merchandise  by  the  State 
and  municipal  governments  throughout  the  Republic  impeded  commerce,  the 
Mexican  Government  called  to  the  capital  an  economic  conference  with  delegates 
from  each  State  to  confer  as  to  the  best  method  of  removing  this  obstacle  with- 
out an  embarrassing  loss  of  revenues.  The  conference  which  has  been  *in  session 
since  last  December  has  reached  certain  conclusions,  which,  although  not  yet 
finally  acted  upon,  will  in  all  probability  be  adopted,  and  are  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  all  persons  engaged  in  commerce  with  the  Republic. 

It  is  proposed: 

First.  That  all  interior  customs  houses  be  abolished,  and  that  all  imported 
merchandise  having  complied  with  the  customs  laws  at  the  port  of  entry  shall 
thereafter  pass  unimpeded  to  its  destination. 

Second.  In  place  of  the  existing  alcabala  (internal  duties)  an  indirect  tax 
Is  to  be  substituted,   to  be  collected  from  the  consumer,   which  shall  be  uni- 


n6 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


form  throughout  the  Republic,  at  a  rate  not  to  exceed  8  per  cent  ad  valorem  on 
all  articles  except  tobacco  and  spirits,  and  shall  be  paid  in  the  form  of  stamps 
which  the  general  Government  shall  issue  to  the  several  States  as  they  shall 
make  requisitions  for  the  same.  This  tax  shall  be  imposed  for  twenty  years 
from  and  after  the  5th  day  of  February,  1892. 

Third.  The  tax  upon  tobacco  and  spirits  shall  be  determined  from  time  to 
time  by  special  regulation. 

Fourth.  The  law  authorizing  the  States  to  impose  a  tax  of  5  per  cent  on  the 
import  duties  levied  upon  imported  merchandise  is  to  be  repealed,  and  there  is 
to  be  no  taxation  whatever  upon  imported  merchandise  except  the  regular  Fed- 
eral customs  dues  and  the  8  per  cent  stamp  tax  herein  mentioned. 

Fifth.  The  revenues  from  the  new  8  per  cent  tax  shall  belong  to  the  States 
that  collect  them,  and  those  collected  in  the  Federal  districts  and  the  Territories 
shall  be  paid  into  the  Federal  treasury. 

Before  this  plan  goes  into  effect  it  must  be  approved  by  the 
Federal  Congress  and  ratified  by  the  several  States. 

ABOLITION  OF  INTERNAL  CUSTOMS  DUTIES. 

A  copy  of  the  plan  for  the  abolition  of  internal  customs  duties 
in  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  recommended  to  the  Government  by 
a  commission  appointed  some  months  ago  has  been  received.  It 
is  well  known  by  all  who  have  studied  the  subject  that  the  system 
of  customs  dues  imposed  upon  imported  merchandise  by  the  States 
and  municipalities  of  Mexico,  in  addition  to  those  imposed  at  the 
custom-house  on  the  border  by  the  general  Government,  has  been 
a  source  of  great  annoyance  and  a  serious  obstacle  to  the  extension 
of  trade,  therefore  the  several  States,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Fed- 
eral power,  committed  to  a  commission  of  eminent  economists  the 
duty  of  proposing  a  solution  of  the  problem.  After  nearly  a  year 
devoted  to  the  investigation  of  the  subject,  they  recommended  the 
adoption  of  the  following  substitute  for  article  124  of  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Republic  : 

Art.  124.  From  the  first  day  of  July,  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-three, 
both  national  and  foreign  merchandise  shall  be  absolutely  free  in  its  circulation 
within  the  national  territory.      As  a  consequence: 


MEXICO.  117 

1.  Neither  the  Federal  Government  nor  those  of  the  States  shall  impose  any 
of  the  taxes  known  as  the  alcabala,  portazgo,  consumo,  and  package  dues,  or 
any  other  tending  to  prevent  or  restrict  the  movement  of  goods. 

Neither  shall  they : 

A.  Impose  any  tax  on  the  mere  transit  of  goods  in  the  internal  commerce  of 
the  country. 

B.  Subject  to  taxation  of  any  kind  the  introduction  of  merchandise  into,  or 
the  extraction  of  merchandise  from,  the  territory  of  the  States,  or  forbid  either 
operation  except  for  reasons  of  police. 

C.  Impose  differential  duties  on  domestic  goods  according  to  the  place  of 
their  manufacture  or  origin,  nor  establish  any  distinctions  in  taxation  excepting 
such  as  are  founded  on  the  kind  and  quality  of  the  goods. 

2.  Only  the  Federal  authorities  are  empowered  to  impose  transit  duties  and 
then  only  on  foreign  merchandise  passing  through  the  country. 

3.  Neither  domestic  merchandise  nor  foreign  merchandise  legally  imported 
shall,  in  its  circulation  through  the  country,  be  confined  to  any  given  route  or 
be  liable  to  examination  or  search,  or  need  to  be  accompanied  by  any  fiscal  doc- 
ument; saving,  however,  all  such  regulations  as  the  Federal  authorities  may 
•draw  up  for  the  introduction  of  foreign  merchandise. 

4.  Foreign  merchandise,  when  converted  into  domestic  merchandise  by  a  pro- 
cess to  be  more  exactly  determined  by  a  special  law,  shall  be  on  the  same  foot- 
ing as  domestic  merchandise  as  regards  general  and  local  taxes. 

In  the  new  Mexican  tariff  which  goes  into  effect  November  1, 
the  following  commodities  have  been  added  to  the  free  list :  Fresh 
milk,  guano,  belts  of  leather,  etc.,  seeds  for  agriculture,  type  metal 
in  bars,  ironstone  hammers,  iron  barrels,  perforated  sheet  iron, 
asbestus  crucibles,  millstones,  insulators  for  telegraph  and  telephone 
purposes,  silk  cloth  for  flour  sieves,  printed  sheets  for  bank  notes, 
maps,  wall  pictures  for  schools,  drawing  courses,  copying  apparatus, 
electric  batteries,  miners'  lamps,  scientific  apparatus,  lightning  rods, 
collections  of  coins,  miners'  hats  and  caps. 

A  decree  recently  issued  by  the  President  of  Mexico  removes 
many  of  the  arbitrary  restrictions  at  the  custom-house  at  the  City 
of  Mexico.  The  decree  provides  that  foreign  merchandise  paying 
duty  on  entering  the  country  at  the  frontier  or  maritime  custom- 
houses shall  not  be  subject  to  further  taxation  beyond  the  5  per 


1  1 8  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

cent  consumption  tax,  calculated  on  the  amount  of  the  import 
duties,  on  being  introduced  into  the  Federal  district.  Foreign 
goods  on  the  free  list  of  the  tariff  shall  not  pay  anything  on  enter- 
ing the  Federal  district. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  has  received  official  notice 
of  a  decree  by  the  Government  of  Mexico  amending  paragraph 
199  of  the  tariff  of  the  Federal  district,  so  that  the  duty  on  rag  paper, 
blotting  paper,  wrapping  paper,  with  the  exception  of  colored 
papers  for  wrapping,  and  unsized  paper,  except  for  cigarette  wrap- 
pers, is  hereafter  to  be  50  centimes  per  100  kilograms.  Colored 
wrapping  paper  and  unsized  paper  for  cigarette  wrappers  of  native 
manufacture  are  exempt  from  all  duty. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  has  been  notified  that  the 
Mexican  State  of  Coahuila  has  exempted  capital  invested  in  flour- 
ing mills,  starch  factory,  and  cotton  cleaning  establishments  from 
State  and  local  taxation  for  a  period  of  twelve  years. 

COFFEE  RAISING. 

Maj.  J.  D.  Warner,  of  Mexico  City,  supplies  the  following  facts 
concerning  coffee  raising  in  this  country : 

The  coffee  raising  in  Mexico  is  as  yet  in  its  infancy,  but  it  pays  from  one 
hundred  to  two  hundred  per  cent  on  capital  invested,  the  Mexican  coffee  being 
of  a  superior  quality  and  ranking  amongst  the  best  in  the  world.  A  new  coffee 
plantation  will  pay  original  cost  and  leave  a  good  margin  of  profit  by  the  end 
of  the  fifth  year  after  planting.  Coffee  is  worth  at  present,  at  the  plantation, 
from  20  to  25  cents  per  pound,  while  the  annual  cost  of  production  averages- 
only  7  cents  per  pound,  the  coffee  being  sold  for  cash  only  and  never  commis- 
sioned out  to  find  a  market.  Good  coffee  land  with  an  exceptional  title  can  be 
bought  from  $5  to  $100  an  acre,  according  to  location  and  condition  and  1 
acre  will  grow  1,000  trees. 

A  coffee  tree  begins  to  bear  in  the  third  year  after  planting,  and  when  in  full 
bearing  will  yield  from  2  to  10  pounds  of  coffee  annually,  according  to  age — 
the  life  of  the  tree  being  from  thirty  to  forty  years.  The  coffee  plantations  of 
Mexico  have  never  been  attacked  by  any  disease  or  parasite.  Irrigation  is  not 
required. 


MEXICO.  119 

Much  of  the  labor  incidental  to  the  raising  and  preparation  of  coffee  can  be, 
and  is,  performed  by  women  and  children,  which  largely  increases  the  available 
labor  supply  and  reduces  the  cost  of  the  same. 

The  soil  and  climate  suitable  for  coffee  are  suitable  also  for  tobacco,  corn  (of 
which  three  or  four  crops  are  raised  yearly),  beans,  oranges,  and  lemons,  and 
in  the  lower  lying  districts  for  sugar-cane,  rice,  and  all  of  the  tropical  fruits  as 
well.  The  altitude  suitable  for  coffee  is  from  1,000  to  5,000  feet,  or  say, 
"frost  line." 

The  coffee  districts  are  amongst  the  healthiest  in  the  country,  and  the  climate 
adapted  to  coffee  is  suitable  also   for  persons   accustomed  to   a  temperate  zone. 

The  wages  in  the  principal  coffee  raising  districts  according  to  official  tables, 
average  43^  cents  per  diem,  and  the  necessary  labor  for  prosecuting  this  indus- 
try is  obtainable  without  difficulty. 

The  picking  season  for  coffee  commences  at  the  end  of  November,  the  buy- 
ers leaving  the  plantations  about  the  end  of  May. 

The  value  of  all  the  coffee  produced  in  Mexico  in  the  year  1891  amounted 
to  $6,500,000,  while  the  consumption  in  the  United  States  in  the  same  year 
was  $75,000,000. 

Every  coffee  planter  should  carry  on,  simultaneously  with  his  main  business 
and  in  addition  to  the  raising  of  corn,  beans,  and  tobacco  already  mentioned, 
the  following  industries: 

(1)  The  fattening  of  cattle  which  gives  an  annual  profit  of  100  per  cent. 

(2)  The  raising  and  fattening  of  hogs,  an  important  industry  in  Mexico. 

(3)  The  raising  of  vanilla  and  cacao;  on  the  former  of  which  as  much  as 
300  per  cent  has  been  made  in  good  years. 

(4)  The  sale  of  valuable  timber,  such  as  mahogany,  cedar,  and  rosewood, 
which  are  found  on  all  uncleared  coffee  lands. 

The  foregoing  items  of  information  apply  particularly  to  the  State  of  Vera- 
cruz, where  the  collateral  conditions  of  accessibility  to  the  land  and  facility  for 
transportation  of  its  products  to  the  more  important  markets,  are  the  best  in 
the  Republic. 

It  may  be  mentioned  that  the  soil  and  climate  suitable  for  coffee  are  adapted 
also  to  the  growing  of  tea,  to  the  profits  and  possibilities  lying  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  which  product  the  attention  of  many  people  is  now  being  drawn. —  The 
Mexican  Trader. 

There  are  now  in  active  operation,  in  the  district  of  Soconusco, 
State  of  Chiapas,  Mexico,  twenty-six  coffee  estates  which  employ 
over  fifteen  hundred  men.  In  this  district  there  is  still  a  very 
large  extent  of  first-class  coffee  land  not  being  cultivated,  which 


120  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

could  easily  produce  over  2,000,000  pounds  of  coffee.  The  cost 
of  production  to  the  growers  is  about  7  cents  per  pound,  packed 
in  bags  and  ready  for  transportation.  The  demand  is  always  in 
excess  of  the  supply,  and  sales  are  readily  made  at  the  plantations 
at  20  cents  per  pound.  The  lack  of  sufficient  labor  is  the  great 
hindrance  to  the  increase  of  production.  The  reports  which  have 
been  circulated  of  the  total  failure  of  crops  in  Chiapas  is  denied 
by  residents  of  the  State.  Although  the  yield  of  wheat  and  corn 
in  several  of  the  districts  is  less  than  usual  in  that  very  fertile  sec- 
tion, yet  the  lands  produce  so  bountifully,  even  when  uncultivated, 
that  it  is  almost  an  impossibility  for  a  condition  of  famine  to  exist 
there. 

The  Congress  of  the  State  of  Nuevo  Leon,  Mexico,  for  the 
purpose  of  encouraging  the  cultivation  of  fiber  plants,  has  exempted 
from  taxation,  for  a  period  of  twenty  years,  all  lands  devoted  to 
that  purpose. 

The  most  important  industry  of  the  Mexican  peninsula  of 
Yucatan  is  the  export  of  henequen  fiber,  which  is  used  very  exten- 
sively in  the  manufacture  of  cordage.  Recent  statistics  show  that 
the  production  for  the  present  year  will  exceed  100,000,000  pounds, 
about  one-half  of  which  is  exported  to  Boston,  Mass. 

The  exportation  of  tobacco  from  Mexico  during  the  fiscal  year 
ending  1891  amounted  to  $156,844.56  more  than  the  previous 
year,  which  exceeded  that  of  1888-89  by  $23,533.80. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  is  informed  that  over  three 
hundred  thousand  orange  trees  have  been  planted  within  the  past 
year  on  the  line  of  the  Monterey  and  Gulf  Railroad,  Mexico,  by 
planters  who  have  been  engaged  in  orange  culture  in  California. 

MINERAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

An  interesting  account  has  been  received  relative  to  the  devel- 
opment of  the  immense  deposit  of  salt  on  the  island  of  Carmen, 
in  the  Gulf  of  California,  near  Loneto  in  the  Territory  of  Lower 


MEXICO.  121 

California.  This  island  was  purchased  by  the  Carmen  Island  Salt 
Company,  not  long  ago,  for  $500,000,  and  it  is  proposed  to  utilize 
this  magnificent  gift  of  nature  in  a  most  extensive  manner. 
Steamers  of  the  greatest  draft  will  be  able  to  load,  by  means  of 
a  series  of  chutes,  directly  from  the  immense  wharf  which  is  now 
in  the  course  of  construction,  jutting  out  into  the  Gulf  some  3,000 
feet.  The  output  of  the  mines  is  expected  to  be  about  300 
tons  a  day,  and  the  company  will  be  able  to  send  north  by  the 
Sonora  Railway,  a  train  load  daily  from  Guaymas.  Large  quan- 
tities will  also  be  shipped  by  steamer  to  Mazatlan,  where  a  great 
deal  of  salt  is  necessary  to  be  used  in  the  mines  of  Sinaloa  for  the 
reduction  of  the  refractory  ores  mined  in  that  district.  The  deposit 
is  almost  pure  salt  in  the  form  of  crystal,  and  is  so  situated  as  to 
be  capable  of  advantageous  and  economical  mining. 

The  Trafico,  of  Guaymas,  confirms  the  already  published  reports 
of  the  San  Marcial  anthracite  coal  fields.  It  appears  that  there 
was  some  fear  in  Sonora  lest  English  capitalists  might  secure  the 
coal  fields  and  hold  them  undeveloped  until  such  time  as  there 
should  be  a  scarcity  of  coal  in  England.  It  is  very  likely  that,  if 
English  capitalists  should  acquire  control  of  the  Sonora  deposits, 
they  would  work:  them  to  make  all  the  money  possible  in  as 
short  a  time  as  possible.  English  capitalists  are  not  given  to 
buying  up  properties  in  foreign  lands  for  purely  patriotic  consid- 
erations. Operations  at  the  coal  fields  are  being  carried  on  some 
40  miles  from  Ortiz,  a  town  on  the  Sonora  Railway  between 
Hermosillo  and  Guaymas.  The  concession,  which  is  owned  by 
a  Mexican  company,  covers  about  4,000,000  acres.  The  enor- 
mous extent  of  the  anthracite  deposit  may  be  comprehended  when 
it  is  said  that  borings  50  miles  apart  have  found  coal.  The 
diamond  drill  has  gone  through  four  veins;  the  first  being  2  feet, 
the  second  4  feet,  the  third  7^  feet,  and  the  fourth  the  drill  had 
penetrated  22  feet  and  is  still  working  in  coal.  The  coal  is  by 
actual  test  equal  to  the  finest  Lehigh  Valley  product  of  anthracite. 


122  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

It  can  be  traced  for  miles  on  the  surface,  and  the  different  borings 
of  the  drill  show  the  same  four  veins  of  the  same  thickness.  A 
railway  60  or  65  miles  will  bring  the  coal  to  the  harbor  at 
Guaymas,  and  the  entire  distance  is  very  smooth,  offering  no  en- 
gineering obstacles.  The  coal  can  be  laid  down  in  San  Diego, 
Cal.,  for  $5  per  ton,  with  less  than  a  thousand  mile  water  haul 
around  the  peninsula  of"  Lower  California. 

A  synopsis  of  the  report  made  by  the  governor,  don  Joaquin 
Baltran,  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  Mexico,  gives  the 
results  of  recent  explorations  of  the  coal  deposits  in  Sonora.  It. 
appears  that  the  deposits  of  anthracite  coal  in  that  department  are 
practically  inexhaustible,  the  area  in  which  it  is  found  extending 
over  a  region  of  570  square  leagues.  In  making  the  borings  it 
was  found  that  the  veins  varied  greatly,  some  of  them  being  merely 
from  2  to  4  feet  thick,  while  others  range  from  8  to  25  feet.  It 
was  estimated  by  the  engineers  that  the  valley  of  San  Marcial,  as 
shown  by  the  exploration,  contains  over  sixty  billion  tons,  in  round 
numbers,  of  excellent  quality  coal.  Col.  Baltran  brought  with 
him  fine  specimens  of  plumbago,  which  he  says  exists  in  large 
quantities  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  coal  veins. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  has  received  a  valuable 
report  upon  the  coal  deposits  of  Mexico,  which  are  regarded  as 
even  more  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  the  country  than  the  gold 
or  silver  mines.  Although  traces  of  coal  have  always  been  found 
in  several  of  the  Mexican  States,  it  was  not  supposed  to  exist  in 
paying  quantities  until  recently.  It  is  now  known,  however,  that 
there  are  very  large  deposits  of  both  hard  and  soft  coal  of  excel- 
lent quality  in  nearly  all  the  States  of  the  Republic,  and  the  total 
area  of  coal  beds  in  the  Republic  is  estimated  at  125,000  square 
miles.  The  development  of  those  resources  is,  however,  depend- 
ent upon  the  construction  of  transportation  facilities. 

Search  is  being  made  by  a  party  of  Americans  for  diamond 
fields  believed  to  exist  near   Tlacotepec,  in  the  comparatively  in- 


MEXICO.  1 23 

accessible  State  of  Guerrero,  Mexico.  It  is  an  historical  fact  that 
Gen.  Vicente  Guerrero,  a  patriot  of  the  first  Mexican  revolu- 
tion, after  whom  the  State  is  named,  came  suddenly  into  possession 
of  a  number  of  rough  diamonds  of  great  size  and  value,  and  died 
without  disclosing  where  he  obtained  them.  It  is  believed  they 
were  discovered  near  the  site  now  being  explored. 

An  important  discovery  of  quicksilver  has  been  made  at  San 
Juan  Anahuac,  in  the  State  of  Guerrero,  Mexico.  The  mines,  so 
far  as  examined,  appear  to  be  very  extensive,  and  assays  have 
yielded  as  high  as  50  per  cent  of  mercury.  Senor  Antonio  de 
Castillo,  director  of  the  National  School  of  Mines  and  professor 
of  mining  engineering  and  metallurgy  in  that  institution,  has  been 
commissioned  to  examine  and  report  upon  the  property,  and  has 
left  for  Guerrero.  At  present  the  most  valuable  quicksilver  mines 
in  Mexico  are  those  of  Huitzaco,  belonging  to  Senor  Romero 
Rubio,  and  it  is  said  that  he  will  secure  the  right  of  exploiting 
the  new  mines  should  they  prove  of  practical  value.  Deposits  of 
cinnabar  are  also  stated  to  have  been  discovered  at  Flor  Canon, 
midway  between  Victoria  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  is  informed  that  large 
and  valuable  deposits  of  mother-of-pearl  have  recently  been  found 
in  the  city  of  Chihuahua,  Mexico,  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
Conchas.  Some  of  the  shells  are  very  large  and  of  first-class 
quality.  A  company  has  been  formed  to  develop  the  deposits 
and  very  profitable  results  are  expected,  since  a  good  quality  of 
mother-of-pearl  is  very  rare  and  prices  are  high. 

A  curious  discovery  has  been  made  on  Cedros  Island,  Mexico, 
in  the  form  of  a  bed  of  white  sand  extending  along  the  top  of  the 
mountain.  It  is  believed  to  be  the  remains  of  an  ancient  quartz 
ledge,  pulverized  by  intense  heat,  and  is  said  to  be  as  fine  as 
though  it  had  been  run  through  a  battery  of  stamps.  It  varies 
from  3  'to  8  feet  in  thickness,  and  is  asserted  to  be  rich  in  gold. 

The  remarkable  development  of  the  business  of  smelting  lead 


124  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

ores  in  and  around  Monterey,  Mexico,  continues  unabated.  Pre- 
vious to  the  Treasury  decision  making  the  lead  contained  in  cer- 
tain descriptions  of  Mexican  ore  dutiable  at  \l/2  cents  per  pound, 
the  exportation  of  mixed  silver  and  lead  ores  from  Mexico  into 
the  United  States  amounted  to  over  100,000  tons  a  year.  The 
ore  formerly  sent  into  the  United  States  to  be  smelted  is  now 
treated  within  Mexican  borders.  Smelters  already  in  operation 
in  Monterey  have  a  daily  capacity  of  500  tons  of  ore.  Other 
works  in  course  of  construction  will  make  the  smelting  capacity 
equal  to  nearly  half  a  million  tons  per  annum.  It  is  confidently 
expected  that  even  this  enormous  capacity  will  be  doubled  in  the 
next  eighteen  months.  The  smelters  will  use  nearly  75,000  tons  of 
limestone  and  over  100,000  tons  of  coke  per  annum.  It  is  calcu- 
lated that  the  labor  employed  in  this  industry  involves  a  distribu- 
tion of  at  least  $600,000  a  year  in  wages  to  Mexican  workmen, 
and  the  wagon  and  railroad  freightage  on  the  ores  is  estimated  to 
amount  to  $5,000,000  a  year.  The  industry  will  further  add  to 
the  resources  of  the  country  by  opening  up  to  profitable  working 
hundreds  of  low-grade  mines,  the  ore  from  which  could  not  previ- 
ously be  made  to  pay  owing  to  the  absence  of  a  home  market  and 
the  enormous  cost  of  transportation. 

Recent  advices  indicate  a  great  growth  in  the  State  of  Monterey, 
Mexico.  During  the  past  year  there  have  been  located  there  and 
in  active  operation  two  smelters  with  a  capacity  of  450  tons  of  ore 
daily,  one  foundry  and  machine  shop,  one  sash,  door,  blind,  and 
furniture  factory,  one  roller  flour  mill  of  125  barrels  capacity  daily, 
one  soap  factory,  two  ice  factories,  and  one  machine  brickyard. 
A  large  brewery  and  cold  storage  house  for  meats  is  nearly  com- 
pleted, and  an  immense  smelter  of  1,500  tons  daily  capacity  is  in 
the  course  of  building.  Nearly  all  the  products  of  the  smelters  are 
shipped  by  Tampico  to  New  York  and  Europe. 


MEXICO.  125 

WAGES  IN  MEXICO. 

[By  M.  Romero,  Mexican  Minister  to  the  United  States.'] 
[Copyright.    Reprinted  by  permission  of  the  North  American  Review.] 

I  have  often' heard  it  stated,  as  the  chief  reason  for  advocating 
restrictions  on  this  country's  trade  with  Mexico,  that  we  pay  low 
wages  to  our  laborers,  who  are  sometimes  called  paupers  or  peons, 
and  that  the  maintenance  of  the  high  wages  prevailing  here  re- 
quires that  the  free  entrance  of  Mexican  products  similar  to  those 
of  the  United  States  be  forbidden.  As  this  reason  is  repeated 
whenever  it  is  proposed  to  adopt  liberal  measures  to  promote 
trade  between  the  two  neighboring  Republics,  it  seems  to  me  that 
I  might  render  a  service  to  their  better  understanding  of  each 
other  and  to  their  increase  of  trade,  reciprocally  advantageous,  if  I 
should  give  an  idea  of  the  wages  which  are  paid  in  Mexico;  of 
the  causes  which  control  their  amount ;  of  the  manner  in  which 
these  causes  affect  the  cost  and  therefore  the  price  of  the  commodi- 
ties we  produce ;  and  of  the  price  of  Mexican  articles  obtained  with 
low  wages,  compared  with  the  same  commodities  produced  here 
with  high  wages.  I  should  be  very  glad  if  I  could  in  this  way 
help  to  dispel  the  mistaken  ideas  which  prevail  in  this  country  in 
regard  to  the  labor  and  wage  system  of  Mexico,  and  which  stand 
in  the  way  of  measures  tending  to  increase  our  mutual  trade. 

The  broken  surface  of  Mexico  gives  us  all  the  climates  of  the 
world,  frequently  at  very  short  distances  from  each  other,  and  en- 
ables us  to  produce  the  fruits  of  all  the  zones,  while  placing  at 
our  disposal,  at  the  same  time,  an  immense  hydraulic  power,  of 
which  for  the  present  we  hardly  avail  ourselves.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  makes  transportation  very  expensive ;  and  this  fact 
renders  exceedingly  difficult  the  interchange  of  products.  The 
obstacles  to  communication  between  the  various  sections  of  the 
country,  and  the  diversity  of  conditions  existing  in  each,  cause  a 
great  difference  in  the  wages  paid  in  different  localities. 

The  Department  of  Public  Works  of  the  Mexican  Govern- 
ment has  been  for  some  time  collecting  exact  data  regarding  the 
wages  paid  to  field  laborers,  and  during  my  last  visit  to  the  City 


126 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


of  Mexico  I  obtained  a  summary  of  these  data.  It  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  present  it  in  a  complete  and  correct  form,  because  there 
are  several  systems  of  wages.  In  some  places  a  fixed  amount  is 
paid  for  one  day's  work  ;  in  others  a  given  sum  is  paid  for  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  work  done;  in  some  others,  besides  the  wages,  ra- 
tions are  given,  which  consist  of  a  certain  quantity  of  grain,  suf- 
ficient for  the  subsistence  of  the  laborer  and  his  family;  the 
quality  and  quantity  of  these  rations  vary,  as  well  as  their  value,  for 
grain  has  different  prices  in  the  various  localities ;  and  all  these  causes 
render  it  very  difficult  to  make  an  entirely  accurate  resume  of  the 
official  data.  The  most  complete  that  I  have  been  able  to  prepare 
is  the  following,  which  embraces  the  maximum  and  minimum  field 
wages  paid  in  the  different  States  of  the  Mexican  Confederation. 


States. 


Aguas  Calientes  . . . 
Baja  California  (T.) 

Chiapas 

Chihuahua 

Coahuila 

Colima 

Durango 

Distrito  Federal 

Guanajuato 

Guerrero 

Hidalgo 

Jalisco 

"Mexico 

Michoacan 

Morelos 

Nuevo  Leon 

Oajaca 

Puebla 

Queretaro 

San  Luis  Potosi.  .  .  . 

Sonora 

Tabasco 

Tamaulipas 

TepicfT.) 

Tlaxcala 

Vera  Cruz 

Yucatan 

Zacatecas 


Total  average. 


Minimum. 


Dollars. 

.18* 

•  50 

•  25 
,i8# 

•3iX 

•  55 
•25 

3iV 
.r8tf 
.i8# 

.12M 

.1834: 

.12^ 
•25 

.18* 
.18V 
.I8tf 
.18* 

.30 

•37M 

.25 

.25 

.25 

•25 

.25 

.18* 


Maximum. 


Dollars. 

18* 

50 
75 

25   - 
75 

37K 
75 

37K 
3iX 
50 
3lYz 
50 

37^ 
■75 
75 

5o 

50 

ZV/z 

25 

00 

50 

50 

50 

50 

62^ 

31% 
50    l 


Average. 


5" 


Dollars. 

•  183/ 
.50 
•50 
.2I# 

•  53% 
•3l# 
.50 

•  34^ 

•  25 

•  34* 

•  25 

34* 

•25 

•  45  V 
.50 

•34^ 

.65 
•37'-' 

•  31lA 
.31* 


3« 


nt.— The  Norte,  a  newspaper  of  the  City  of  Chihuahua,  referring  to  the  extracts 
published  by  the  Mexican  Financier  of   an  article  of  Mr.  Matias  Romero,   Mexican 


MEXICO.  127 

Minister  at  Washington,  which  appeared  in  the  North  American  Review,  of  January, 
1892,  stating  that  the  wages  of  laborers  range  in  Chihuahua  from  18^  to  25  cents, 
maximum,  says  that  they  are  not  so  low,  and  that  on  the  contrary  that  State  is  perhaps 
•one  of  those  in  Mexico  where  field  hands  and  workmen  in  general  are  better  paid. 
The  wages  of  laborers  there,  the  Norte  says,  vary  from  37^  cents,  minimum,  to  $2, 
the  latter  being  the  amount  paid  to  cowboys  who  furnish  their  mounts. 

Since  the  construction  of  the  railroads,  it  is  said,  wages  in  general  and  especially 
those  paid  to  the  poorest  classes  or  laborers,  have  had  a  remarkable  advance,  which 
has  been  maintained  with  a  tendency  to  a  further  rise  rather  than  a  fall. 

For  instance,  the  bricklayers  get  at  least  $1.  25  per  day,  while  a  foreman  brick- 
layer gets  $3  per  day.  It  is  difficult  to  get  a  servant  for  less  than  $10  a  month,  besides 
the  board,  and  the  other  laborers  are  paid  on  the  same  scale. 

I  do  not  know  that  a  statement  similar  to  the  preceding  one 
has  been  made  concerning  the  wages  paid  to  laborers  in  factories, 
in  mines,  and  on  railroads,  but  I  understand  the  Mexican  Govern- 
ment is  now  collecting  such  data.  I  am  sure,  however,  that  these 
laborers  earn  wages  considerably  higher  than  those  paid  to  field 
hands,  as  those  working  on  railways  on  the  coast  and  on  the  fron- 
tier receive  as  much  as  $i.J0  per  day. 

Before  giving  an  account  of  the  causes  of  the  diversity  of  wages 
paid  in  Mexico  for  field  work,  and  showing  why  these  wages  are 
so  low,  it  is  opportune  to  state  that  it  is  not  in  Mexico  only  that 
such  diversity  of  wages  exists,  for  something  similar  takes  place 
in  this  country.  According  to  the  latest  information  published  by 
the  Wisconsin  labor  bureau,  a  common  laborer  in  Atlanta  earns 
7^  cents  per  hour,  while  the  same  laborer  in  Galveston,  which  is 
another  Southern  city,  earns  25  cents  per  hour,  or  three  times  as 
much. 

As  I  have  just  stated,  the  broken  surface  of  Mexico  makes  trans- 
portation very  expensive,  there  being  comparatively  few  wagon 
roads.  On  the  one  from  Vera  Cruz  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  which 
was  the  best  constructed,  the  average  freight  in  normal  conditions 
was  $68.75  per  ton  of  2,200  pounds  for  a  distance  of  only  263$ 
English  miles,  or  more  than  26  cents  per  mile  and  ton;  and  in 
extraordinary  circumstances,  as  during  the  French  intervention  in 


1  28  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Mexico  from  1861  to  1867,  the  freights  were  as  high  as  $330  per 
ton,  or  over  $1.25  per  mile  and  ton. 

Nothing  shows  more  plainly  how  high  freights  have  been  in 
Mexico  than  to  state  that,  in  accordance  with  the  Mexican  laws* 
the  company  to  which  a  grant  was  given  in  1857  to  build  a  rail- 
road between  Vera  Cruz  and  the  City  of  Mexico  forfeited  its  char- 
ter because  of  services  rendered  to  the  French  intervention  ;  and 
when  the  national  Government  returned  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  in 
1867,  and  revived  the  grant,  among  the  new  restrictions  agreed  to 
by  the  company,  a  maximum  freight  was  fixed  at  $62  per  ton  of 
2,200  pounds,  or  24  cents  a  mile  per  ton ;  and  this  rate  was  then 
considered  quite  reasonable. 

The  common  way  of  transporting  merchandise  was  on  the  backs 
of  mules  or  donkeys,  the  former  carrying  from  300  to  400  pounds 
and  the  latter  about  100  pounds,  both  making  about  15  miles  a 
day,  and  where  there  were  no  mule  paths  goods  were  carried  on 
the  shoulders  of  Indians.  The  high  cost  of  transportation  allowed 
only  the  exportation  of  gold  and  silver,  because  the  precious  metals,, 
having  great  value  in  comparatively  small  volume  and  weight, 
could  bear  the  expense.  These  metals  were,  therefore,  almost  the 
only  articles  of  export  from  Mexico  for  about  three  hundred  years, 
excepting  a  few  other  high-priced  products,  like  cochineal  and  in- 
digo, which,  before  the  progress  of  chemistry,  were  almost  the  only 
materials  used  to  dye  in  red  and  blue  colors,  and  for  this  reason 
commanded  a  very  high  price.  Even  now,  when  Mexico  has  in 
operation  over  5,000  miles  of  railways,  and  when  the  depreciation 
in  the  value  of  silver  has  established  a  bounty  of  about  30  per  cent 
on  the  exportation  of  commodities,  the  total  amount  exported  from 
Mexico  during  last  year  was,  in  round  numbers,  $40,000,000  in 
precious  metals  and  only  $20,000,000  in  commodities. 

Merchandise  could  not  be  transported  from  one  place  to  another 
in  Mexico,  whenever  there  was  any  distance  between  them,  with- 
out increasing  the  cost  very  largely.     Sugar,  for  instance,  which 


MEXICO.  129 

in  some  localities  was  produced  at  the  cost  of  1  cent  a  pound,  was 
sold  in  others  at  25  cents  a  pound.  Such  a  condition  of  things 
reduced  the  consumption  and  consequently  the  production  to  a 
very  narrow  limit,  and  very  often  a  year's  abundant  crops  amounted 
to  a  calamity  to  the  farmers,  as  the  abundance  of  products  without 
an  increase  of  consumption  caused  a  great  fall  in  prices.  Under 
such  circumstances  the  wages  paid  to  the  field  laborers  had  nec- 
essarily to  be  low ;  and  although  they  now  begin  to  improve  with 
the  greater  demand  for  labor  brought  about  by  the  construction  of 
railroads,  and  the  consequent  material  progress  of  the  country,  they 
are  yet  far  from  being  what  is  desired,  and  what  I  am  sure  they 
will  be  before  long. 

It  is  a  fact  that  wages  in  Mexico  are  far  lower  in  many  cases 
than  those  paid  for  the  same  industries  in  the  United  States;  but 
this  ought  not  to  seem  strange  when  it  is  considered  that  this  coun- 
try pays  probably  the  highest  wages  in  the  world ;  and  not  even 
the  foremost  manufacturing  nations  of  Europe,  as  England,  France, 
Germany,  and  Belgium,  can  compete  with  it  in  this  regard.  Yet, 
while  it  is  true  that  labor  in  the  European  countries  is  not  so  well 
remunerated  as  in  the  United  States,  it  must  be  taken  into  account 
that  it  does  not  produce  there  as  much  as  it  does  here.  I  am  as- 
sured by  competent  persons  that  a  bank-bill  printer,  for  instance, 
does  not  print  in  England  more  than  1,500  sheets  per  week,  while 
the  average  work  done  by  the  American  workman  is  6,000  sheets 
per  week;  and  it  is  stated  in  the  Journal  des  Economistes  that  a 
French  weaver  can  take  care  of  only  four  looms,  a  Belgian  of  five, 
an  English  weaver  of  six,  and  one  from  this  country  of  eight.  But 
the  actual  production  during  a  given  working  time  is  in  Mexico 
far  less  than  in  the  United  States  or  even  in  Europe.  The  day's 
work  of  a  Mexican  laborer  very  likely  represents  only  one-fourth 
of  what  is  accomplished  during  the  same  time  by  a  laborer  in  the 
United  States.  A  Mexican  laborer  working  from  ten  to  eleven 
hours  a  day,  for  instance,  accomplishes  less  work,  or  produces  less, 
Bull.  41 9 


130  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

than  a  European  or  an  American  laborer  in  nine  hours,  and  in 
some  instances  the  disproportion  is  as  great  as  1  to  5.  I  have  been 
assured  that  a  Mexican  bricklayer  in  eleven  hours'  work  does  not 
lay  more  than  500  bricks,  while  a  bricklayer  in  the  United  States 
lays  2,500  in  nine  hours;  and  that  a  Mexican  weaver  can  not  at- 
tend to  more  than  two  looms.  Under  such  conditions  the  high 
wages  of  $3  a  day  paid  in  the  United  States  are  no  higher  than 
the  wages  of  50  cents  paid  in  Mexico,  so  far  as  the  product  of  labor 
is  concerned. 

The  principal  causes  for  this  difference  in  working  capacity  are, 
in  my  opinion,  the  following:  (1)  The  Mexican  laborer  is  not  so 
well  fed  and  paid  as  his  brother  in  this  country ;  (2)  he  generally 
works  until  he  is  exhausted,  and  his  work  is  not,  therefore,  so  pro- 
ductive ;  (3)  he  is  not,  on  the  whole,  so  well  educated  as  the  aver- 
age laborer  in  the  United  States ;  (4)  he  has  fewer  wants  to  satisfy, 
and  therefore  less  inducement  to  work.  Perhaps  there  is,  besides 
these  causes,  at  least  in  some  localities,  a  climatic  influence,  due  to 
the  enervating  character  of  the  tropical  climate  and  to  the  high 
altitude  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  the  consequent  lower  at- 
mospherical pressure,  where  a  large  portion  of  the  population  of 
Mexico  is  located.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  this  is  a  factor 
in  the  case,  as  a  similar  difference  is  noticed  among  animals.  A 
plow  drawn  by  one  horse  in  this  country  would  in  Mexico  require 
two  or  three  horses  to  accomplish  the  same  work  in  similar  locali- 
ties ;  and  this  shows  that  the  difference  in  working  strength  may 
be  due,  at  least  in  part  and  in  some  places,  to  natural  causes  or 
climatic  influences. 

The  impression  prevailing  in  this  country  regarding  the  Mexi- 
can peon  is  an  erroneous  one.  It  is  supposed  here  that  peonage 
is  equivalent  to  slavery,  and  that  it  is  spread  throughout  the  whole 
country.  I  must  state  at  once  that  it  exists  principally  in  a  com- 
paratively reduced  area  where  laborers  are  very  scarce,  and  this  feet 
shows  that,  while  the  system  is  liable  to  abuse,  it  has  some  advan- 
tages for  the  laborer. 


MEXICO.  131 

The  largest  portion  of  the  Mexican  population  is  located  on  the 
mountains,  central  table-lands,  and  other  high  regions,  which  enjoy 
a  cold  and  healthful  climate,  on  account  of  their  elevation  above 
the  sea  level.  Only  the  products  of  the  cold  zone  can  grow  there, 
and  they  used  to  be  cultivated  on  a  limited  scale,  solely  for  local 
consumption,  however,  as  the  high  cost  of  transportation  prevented 
their  being  carried  to  any  distance.  In  this  region  labor  is  abun- 
dant, and  exceeds  considerably  the  demand.  Consequently  the 
wages  are  low,  and  the  peonage  system  only  exists  to  a  small  ex- 
tent ;  and,  as  the  number  of  working  hands  is  greater  than  the  de- 
mand, the  laborers  are  exposed  to  disadvantages  that  fortunately 
are  now  disappearing  as  the  progress  of  the  country  increases  the 
demand  for  labor. 

The  temperate  region  embraces  the  lands  located  from  3,000 
to  5,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  it  is  sparsely 
populated;  but  its  products  are  valuable,  like  coffee,  sugar,  and 
other  tropical  fruits.  It  is  very  difficult  to  find  in  this  region  the 
necessary  hands  to  till  the  land  on  a  large  scale.  For  these  rea- 
sons, and,  above  all,  because  of  the  high  cost  of  transportation,  such 
articles  can  not  be  grown  for  export,  except  in  a  few  places  favor- 
ably located,  and  then  in  a  limited  quantity.  This  explains  why 
some  of  these  products  command  a  higher  price  in  some  localities 
of  the  country  where  they  are  produced  than  in  foreign  markets, 
where  they  are  transported  from  great  distances.  Sugar,  for  in- 
stance, which  is  retailed  in  New  York  at  4^  cents  a  pound,  costs 
in  the  City  of  Mexico  from  12  to  18  cents,  and  it  is  not  so  well 
refined  as  the  article  sold  here,  although  for  that  reason  it  has  a 
greater  amount  of  saccharine  matter. 

The  hot  region,  which  embraces  the  coast  on  both  oceans  and 
low  valleys  situated  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  is  very  sparsely 
inhabited ;  labor  is  therefore  very  scarce  and  wages  are  higher  than 
in  any  other  region.  While  in  the  high  and  cold  regions  wages 
are  often  12^  cents  a  day  and  rations,  on  the  coast  they  are  some- 


132  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

times  $1.50  a  day.  The  inhabitants  of  the  cold  and  temperate 
regions  do  not  come  down  to  the  warm  zone,  because  they  are 
exposed  to  sicknesses  prevailing  there,  such  as  yellow  fever  and 
intermittent  and  remittent  fevers,  and  because  they  are  terribly 
annoyed  by  mosquitoes  and  can  hardly  endure  the  heat.  If  at 
any  time  they  do  go  there,  it  is  only  for  a  few  days,  and  they  return 
home  very  soon  afterwards.  It  has  been  thought,  because  the  low- 
lands are  the  most  fertile  and  rich,  and  almost  uninhabited,  that  they 
could  only  be  cultivated  by  means  of  negro  or  Asiatic  labor ;  and 
this  idea  has  induced  some  Mexican  planters  to  try  Chinese  im- 
migration, as  Article  1 1  of  our  Constitution  grants  to  all  men  the 
right  freely  to  enter  and  leave  Mexico. 

The  laborers  living  on  the  warm  lands  have,  on  account  of  the 
scarcity  of  their  number,  advantages  which  are  not  shared  by  their 
brothers  inhabiting  the  higher  regions.  The  first  of  these  advan- 
tages is,  as  I  have  already  stated,  larger  wages;  the  second  is  that 
they  can  obtain  advances,  in  reasonable  amounts,  for  any  needs 
they  may  have,  as  marriages,  births,  sickness,  or  death  in  their 
families,  since  the  small  amount  of  their  wages  does  not  allow 
them  to  economize  for  such  emergencies,  and  these  advances 
are  willingly  made  by  their  employers  on  account  of  future  serv- 
ices, without  interest  or  security.  But,  unfortunately,  these  very 
advantages  are  the  source  of  great  abuse  on  the  part  of  some  em- 
ployers, of  which  the  laborer  is  sometimes  the  victim  on  account 
of  his  ignorance  and  complete  destitution  on  one  side  and  the 
influence  and  wealth  of  his  employer  on  the  other. 

I  speak  of  this  subject  from  personal  experience,  because,  hav- 
ing spent  several  years  as  a  planter  in  the  department  of  Soconusco, 
state  of  Chiapas,  where  these  conditions  prevail,  I  saw  practically 
the  workings  of  the  peonage  system.  It  was  not  possible  there  to 
obtain  a  laborer  either  as  a  domestic  or  a  field  hand  without  paying 
beforehand  the  debt  he  had  contracted  with  his  former  employer, 
which  was  from  $100  to  $500;  so  it  is  easy  to  understand  what 


MEXICO. 


*33 


an  expenditure  of  money  was  required  before  a  large  number  of 
hands  could  be  obtained.  Lapse  of  time  increases  the  debt  in- 
stead of  diminishing  it,  since  the  laborer  asks  each  week,  as  a  rule, 
for  more  than  the  amount  of  his  wages.  Whenever  the  hands  are 
displeased  with  their  work — either  because  they  quarrel  among 
themselves,  because  their  employer  does  not  treat  them  well,  be- 
cause they  do  not  get  all  the  advances  they  ask  for,  or  for  any 
other  reason — they  have  full  freedom  to  offer  their  services  to  any- 
body else,  who  willingly  pays  their  debt,  as  everybody  is  always 
in  need  of  help;  but  often,  and  especially  in  the  case  of  persons 
who  do  not  live  permanently  in  the  country,  as  happened  to  me 
in  Soconusco,  laborers  whose  debts  reach  a  considerable  sum  con- 
ceal themselves,  fly  to  another  district  where  they  are  not  known, 
or  in  some  other  manner  evade  the  payment  of  their  indebtedness ; 
and  the  result  is  that  it  is  lost  to  their  employer. 

These  are  the  practical  results  of  the  peonage  system,  so  far  as 
my  experience  goes,  although  I  do  not  deny  that  it  is  liable  to 
great  abuse  on  the  part  of  the  employers,  who  are  favored  in  a  few 
cases  by  the  tolerance  of  some  local  authorities  and  by  the  igno- 
rance and  poverty  of  the  laborers. 

There  are  some  places — especially  in  the  States  of  Tabasco 
and  Campeachy,  where  fine  woods  are  cut  in  uninhabited  spots, 
which  change  as  the  wood  is  exhausted — where  the  employer 
assumes  in  the  absence  of  any  authorities  or  magistrates,  and  gen- 
erally through  an  overseer,  for  he  himself  seldom  remains  at  such 
places,  all  the  powers  of  government.  There  of  course  the  oppor- 
tunities for  doing  wrong  are  very  much  increased  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  there  is  hardly  any  reponsibility  for  abuse  of  authority. 
In  most  of  these  cases  the  employer  is  obliged  to  set  up,  for  the 
convenience  of  his  laborers,  as  I  have  heard,  never  having  seen 
such  a  thing  personally,  a  store  where  they  can  provide  themselves, 
there  being  no  other  near  by,  with  groceries  and  such  dry  goods  as 
they  need  in  the  ordinary  course  of  life,  paying  for  them  with  the 


134  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

scrip  issued  to  them  in  settlement  of  their  wages  by  the  employer 
over  his  signature.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  greatly  this  system  is 
liable  to  abuse  since  the  laborer  has  to  purchase  at  the  store  of  his 
employer  everything  he  wants  and  at  such  prices  as  the  owner  may 
think  fit  to  charge,  losing  all  the  benefits  of  competition.*"* 

But  the  peonage  system  has  no  legal  existence  in  Mexico,  be- 
cause article  5  of  our  constitution  of  1 857,  enacted  for  the  purpose 
of  abolishing  it,  provided  that  "  nobody  should  be  obliged  to  ren- 
der personal  service  without  proper  compensation  and  his  full 
consent,"  and  forbade  the  law  to  authorize  any  contract  which 
might  have  for  its  object  the  "loss  or  irreparable  sacrifice  of  the 
freedom  of  man  through  work,  education,  or  religious  vows." 
This  article  was  amended  on  the  25th  of  September,  1873,  with 
the  main  view  of  prohibiting  the  taking  of  religious  vows  in  Mex- 
ico, and  of  making  it  more  explicit,  and  it  reads  now,  so  far  as 
work  is  concerned,  as  follows  :  "  The  State  can  not  allow  the  fulfil- 
ment of  any  agreement,  contract,  or  covenant  which  may,  in  any 
manner  impair,  destroy,  or  irrevocably  sacrifice  man's  liberty,  either 
through  work,  education,  or  religious  vows." 

The  Catholic  clergy  of  Mexico  encouraged  the  system  of  having 

*It  seems  that  something  similar  to  this  is  done  in  the  United  States,  as  is  shown  by 
the  following  extract  from  Gen.  Rush  C.  Hawkins's  article,  entitled  "Brutality  and 
Avarice  Triumphant,"  published  in  the  June  number  of  Thk  North  Ami  khan  Re- 
yikw,  page  660  :  "  One  of  the  most  facile  means  in  the  hands  of  avarice  for  cheating 
the  poor  and  helpless  is  the  'corporation  and  contractors'  store.'  It  is  usually  owned 
by  corporations  whose  employes  arc  the  only  patrons,  and  the  rule  is  to  sell  the  poorest 
possible  quality  of  supplies  at  the  highest  price  obtainable.  In  many  instances  em- 
ployes are  given  to  understand  that  they  are  expected  to  trade  at  the  company  and 
contract  stores,  or,  failing  to  do  so,  will  be  discharged.  This  oppressive  method  of 
cheating  is  not  confined  to  any  particular  part  of  the  country,  but  prevails,  with  varying 
if  malignancy,  wherever  under  one  management,  either  corporate,  partnership, 
or  individual,  any  considerable  number  of  employes  are  assembled  together.  Since 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War  many  thousands  of  Ignorant  Macks  have  been  made  the 

victims  of  tins  common  and  heartless  swindle,  winch  has  absorbed  their  scant  earnings. 

At  the  end  of  each  month,  year  in  and  year  out.  it  has  [novel  to  their  untrained  minds 

ttOttishing   fact   that   the  longer  and   the  harder   they  worked   the   more   they  got  in 

debt  to  their  employ 


MEXICO.  135 

a  great  many  feast  days,  because  they  were  quite  productive 
to  the  church.  Over  one-third  of  the  year,  not  counting  the  Sab- 
bath, was  given  up  to  religious  festivals,  during  which  all  work 
was  stopped.  So  objectionable  were  the  results  of  this  system  that 
when,  in  1858,  the  laws  of  reform  were  enacted  separating  the 
church  from  the  state,  the  feast  days  were  reduced  by  law  to  a 
very  limited  number — about  six  only  in  a  year ;  but,  as  happens 
with  all  legislation  in  conflict  with  the  actual  habits  of  the  people, 
the  law  has  not  been  faithfully  complied  with,  especially  because 
it  does  not  provide  any  punishment  for  the  offenders.  This  fact 
makes  foreigners  in  Mexico  consider  native  labor  unreliable. 

It  is  time  now  to  speak  of  the  prices  of  Mexican  commodities 
and  to  compare  them  with  such  as  are  produced  here.  The  de- 
partment of  public  works  has  been  for  some  time  collecting  data 
as  to  prices  of  agricultural  products  in  Mexico,  and  during  my 
recent  stay  in  the  capital  of  the  republic  I  obtained  a  resume  of 
such  data,  which  I  give  on  the  next  page,  reducing  the  weights 
and  measures  used  in  Mexico  to  those  used  in  this  country,  and 
stating  the  price  of  each  article  in  each  country. 

It  has  been  very  difficult  to  make  this  table,  for  the  complete 
accuracy  of  which  I  can  not  vouch,  notwithstanding  that  I  have 
used  much  care  and  availed  myself  of  all  the  means  within  my 
reach  to  make  it  as  complete  as  possible ;  but  the  difficulty  of 
obtaining  the  average  price  of  certain  articles  in  both  countries  is 
very  great,  and  no  less  the  reduction  to  a  common  standard  of  the 
weights  and  measures  used  in  each.  So  far  as  commodities  in  the 
United  States  are  concerned,  I  have  taken  as  the  basis  for  fixing 
their  price  the  data  contained  in  No.  12  of  the  statistical  abstract 
of  the  United  States  for  the  year  1889,  prepared  by  the  Bureau  of 
Statistics  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and 
sent  by  him  to  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  4th  of  Decem- 
ber of  the  same  year.  In  regard  to  such  commodities  as  were  not 
embraced  in  that  document  I  have  used  the  data  contained  in  the 


I36  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

thirty-second  annual  report  of  the  chamber  or*  commerce  of  the 
city  of  New  York  for  the  fiscal  year  1889-90,  and  in  the  report  of 
the  produce  exchange  of  New  York  for  the  same  period,  and  such 
other  as  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  from  reliable  sources. 


Articles. 


Prices. 


City  of 
Mexico. 


Bacon per  pound . 

Beeves  (gross  weight) do.  . , 

Coal per  ton , 

Coffee per  pound , 

Corn , do.  . . 

Cotton  prints per  yard . 

Cottons per  pou nd . 

Flour do. . . 

Ham do. . . 

Hogs,  live  (gross  weight) do. . . 

Iron,  pig per  ton . 

Lard per  pound . 

Meats — 

Beef do.  . . 

Mutton do.  . . 

Pork do.  . . 

Paper,  printing do. . . 

Prints .' per  yard , 

Rice per  pound , 

Salt v do . . . 

Sheep  (gross  weight) .' do. . . 

Sugar do . . . 

Tallow do.  .  . 

Tobacco do .  . . 

Wheat do. . . 

Whisky per  gall . 


*  Or  43  cents  per  bushel  ot  56  pounds. 
t  Or  $2.75  per  barrel  of  196  pounds. 
t  Or  83  cents  per  bushel  of  60  pounds. 


§  Or  $16  a  cask  of  20.0787  gallons. 
II  In  bond. 


One  reason  why  Mexican  products  are  so  high  is  that  when 
they  reach  the  markets  they  have  paid  the  local  duty  levied  in 
coming  into  the  cities.  Unfortunately  the  internal  commerce  of 
Mexico  is  not  free,  as  in  the  United  States,  where  such  freed6m 
has  contributed  greatly,  in  my  opinion,  to  the  marvelous  pros- 
perity of  the  people.  Our  constitution  of  1857  prescribed  the 
abolition,  from  the  1st  of  July,  1 8 98,  of  the  interior  duties  and 
custom-houses  throughout  the  whole  country;  but  Unfortunately 


MEXICO.  137 

it  has  not  yet  been  possible  to  comply  with  that  provision,  and  the 
time  has  been  extended  by  amending  the  constitution,  The  rail- 
roads have  come  to  demonstrate  practically  the  great  inconven- 
ience of  the  system  of  trammeled  interior  commerce,  and  the 
Mexican  Government  is  now  endeavoring  to  bring  the  different 
States  to  an  agreement  to  replace  such  duties  with  some  other  tax 
less  objectionable. 

The  reciprocity  treaty  of  January  20,  1883,  contained  a  provi- 
sion which  was,  I  think,  little  commented  upon  or  appreciated 
here,  whereby  complete  immunity  from  all  local,  State,  and  munic- 
ipal taxes  was  granted  to  merchandise  from  this  country  imported 
into  Mexico,  giving  it  the  same  freedom  as  it  enjoys  at  home. 
My  object  in  agreeing  to  the  above  clause  was  not  only  to  encour- 
age and  promote  the  development  of  trade  between  the  two  coun- 
tries, but  also  to  undermine  the  present  obnoxious  legislation, 
which,  by  interposing  so  many  obstacles,  makes  traffic  almost  im- 
possible. The  moment  foreign  merchandise  was  exempted  from  all 
local  duties  and  barriers,  domestic  merchandise  was  left  in  such  an 
unfavorable  condition  as  to  demand  imperatively  a  change  for  the 
better. 

I  expected  in  this  instance  a  repetition  of  what  took  place  with 
our  postage  rates,  which  up  to  1874  were  almost  prohibitory — 25 
cents  per  quarter  of  an  ounce — thereby  considerably  encouraging 
evasion.  Our  Minister  to  Berlin  was  appointed  a  delegate  from 
Mexico  to  the  Universal  Postal  Union  Congress  which  met  in 
Paris,  and  he  was  one  of  the  signatories  of  the  convention  con- 
cluded June  1,  1878,  whereby  the  international  postage  rate  was 
fixed  at  5  cents  per  sixteen  grams,  or  half  an  ounce.  When  the 
Mexican  Government  ratified  that  convention  the  old  postage 
rates  could  not  be  kept  up,  and  a  few  years  later  they  were  finally 
reduced  to  10  cents  per  half  ounce,  and  the  number  of  letters  for- 
warded in  the  Mexican  mails  has  since  immensely  increased,  the 
revenue  therefrom  having  augmented  fourfold. 


I38  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

When  economical  errors  of  long  standing  prevail  in  a  country 
and  become  imbedded  in  the  people,  the  most  effective  way  to 
eradicate  them  is  sometimes  to  make  their  remedy  a  subject  of 
stipulation  with  a  foreign  country,  giving  it  thereby  a  special 
force;  otherwise,  if  the  remedy  is  enacted  by  one  Congress,  an- 
other can  repeal  that  measure,  as  has  been  the  case  in  Mexico 
with  the  alcabalas  excise.  We  have  great  respect  for  international 
agreements,  and  hold  that  the  legislative  branch  of  the  Govern- 
ment can  not  abrogate  them,  unless  with  the  consent  of  the  other 
party,  or  in  case  of  war. 

It  is  now  time  to  show  that  the  low  wages  paid  in  Mexico  do 
not  produce  cheap  commodities,  and  could  not  therefore,  by  com- 
petition, lower  the  compensation  of  labor  or  the  cost  of  similar 
manufactured  articles  in  the  United  States. 

We  pay  at  home,  in  several  cases,  wages  amounting  to  about  a 
sixth  of  what  is  paid  here  for  similar  work,  and  yet  the  production 
in  Mexico,  with  such  low  wages,  is  a  great  deal  more  expensive 
than  the  production  of  similar  articles  in  the  United  States,  with 
probably  the  highest  wages  in  the  world  and  with  prices  con- 
sequently higher. 

It  is  true  that  wages  are  one  of  the  principal  factors  in  the  cost 
of  production  of  all  kinds  of  merchandise,  but  they  are  not  the 
only,  and  in  many  cases  not  even  the  principal,  one.  The  ques- 
tion of  wages  is  very  complex,  and  it  seems  that,  in  comparing 
the  wages  of  this  country  with  those  paid  in  Mexico,  two  impor- 
tant factors  are  overlooked  :  First,  the  cost  of  living  in  each  coun- 
try, or  the  purchasing  power  of  the  currency  in  each;  and,  second, 
the  amount  of  commodities  produced  in  each  country  by  the  same 
unit  of  work,  either  on  account  of  the  greater  fitness  or  greater  physi- 
cal strength  of  the  laborer,  or  through  the  use  of  machinery,  which 
increases  the  amount  of  production  and  cheapens  it  enormously. 
When  these  two  circumstances  are  taken  into  account  it  will  be 
found  that  the  high  wages  paid  here  are  often  no  higher  for  the 


MEXICO.  139 

work  performed,  perhaps  in  some  cases  even  lower,  than  those 
paid  in  Mexico  and  in  other  countries;  and  only  in  that  way  can 
we  explain  how  this  country  with  its  high  wages  can  produce 
many  articles — for  instance,  watches  and  clocks — which  compete 
successfully  with  those  made  in  Switzerland,  where  wages  are 
comparatively  low. 

The  cost  of  production,  too,  depends  on  other  circumstances, 
different  in  each  country,  all  of  which  must  be  considered  for  a 
proper  appreciation  of  the  subject.  I  would  need  more  space 
than  I  can  reasonably  use  in  this  article  to  mention  all  the  causes 
which  affect  wages,  and  to  show  how  far  they  influence  the  cost  of 
production;  and  I  shall  only  present  some  practical  and  sugges- 
tive examples  taken  from  the  preceding  table,  to  show  that  the 
same  commodities  produced  in  this  country,  with  high  wages,  cost 
less,  •  and  therefore  are  sold  at  a  lower  price  than  similar  articles 
produced  in  Mexico  with  low  wages. 

One  of  the  best  illustrations  of  the  correctness  of  this  statement 
is  the  working  of  mines  in  both  countries.  Although  wages  in 
Mexico  are  probably  one-fourth  or  one-fifth  of  those  paid  in  the 
United  States,  the  production  of  silver  costs  much  less  here  than 
there.  Mr.  Thomas  H.  Carter,  late  member  of  Congress  from 
Montana,  and  a  very  competent  judge,  stated,  during  the  first  ses- 
sion of  the  last  Congress,  that  miners'  wages  here  were  $3  a  day, 
while  he  fixed  at  50  cents  per  day  the  wages  of  Mexican  miners. 
I  do  not  think  his  statement  correct  so  far  as  Mexican  mining 
wages  are  concerned,  as  miners  there  earn  larger  wages  than  field 
hands.  That  our  production  of  silver  is  more  costly  than  it  is  here 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  mines  similar  to  those  which  we  abandon 
because  it  does  not  pay  us  to  work  them  on  account  of  the  low 
grade  of  silver,  or  for  other  reasons,  are  operated  in  the  United 
States  with  profit.  This  is  in  a  great  measure  because  mines  are 
worked  in  this  country  by  machinery,  which  diminishes  the  cost 
and  increases  the  production ;  but  this  very  fact  shows  that  wages 


I4O  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

are  not  the  only  factor  affecting  the  cost  of  production,  and  also 
that  with  high  wages  it  is  possible,  and  even  easy,  to  produce  at  a 
less  expense  than  with  low  wages. 

Cotton-culture  is  another  example.  I  am  aware  that  the  cot- 
ton-growers of  the  United  States  hold  that  what  they  call  their 
cotton  belt  has  peculiar  conditions  for  the  production  of  their 
staple,  which  in  their  opinion  do  not  exist  in  any  other  portion  of 
the  world,  and  they  believe,  therefore,  that  nobody  can  compete 
with  them  in  this  regard.  Without  any  intention  on  my  part  to 
belittle  the  advantages  of  the  cotton  belt  of  this  country,  I  am  of 
the  opinion  that  there  are  in  Mexico  lands  as  well  adapted  for 
the  production  of  cotton  as  the  best  in  this  country,  and  in  some 
of  our  regions  perhaps  even  more  so  ;  yet,  notwithstanding  these 
advantages  and  although  our  wages  are  low,  cotton  is  produced 
cheaper  in  this  country,  and  is  sold  with  profit  by  the  planters  for 
one-half  the  price  that  it  commands  in  Mexico.  So  great  is  the 
difference  in  the  price  of  this  staple  in  the  two  countries  that 
notwithstanding  an  import  duty  on  cotton  of  8  cents  per  kilo- 
gram, or  almost  5  cents  per  pound,  which  is  equivalent  to  50  per 
cent  ad  valorem,  we  import  from  this  country  almost  one-half  of 
the  cotton  used  in  our  home  manufactures.  I  do  not  overlook 
the  fact  that  cotton  is  raised  here  by  negro  labor,  which  is  con- 
siderably cheaper  than  white  labor ;  but,  even  assuming  that 
wages  in  this  case  be  the  same  in  both  countries,  the  difference  in 
cost  is  so  great  that  labor  is  not  the  only  factor  in  the  expense  of 
production. 

Something  similar  happens  with  sugar.  Here  it  is  produced 
with  high  wages,  and — although  its  culture  in  Louisiana  is  an 
artificial  one,  since  frosts  prevail  there,  since  the  cane  has  to  be 
planted  every  year  or  two,  and  the  ground  cultivated  at  consid- 
erable expense  several  times  a  year,  so  that  such  culture  is  almost 
as  artificial  there  as  coffee-culture  would  be  in  New  England — 
yet  the  Louisiana  planters  sell  their  sugar  in  New  York  with 
profit  at  from  6   to  7   cents  per  pound,   while   in  the  City   of 


MEXICO.  141 

Mexico  and  other  places  in  my  country  it  commands  twice  and 
even  three  times  that  price. 

The  same  is  the  case  with  tobacco.  Although  the  climate  and 
soil  are  very  likely  better  fitted  for  its  culture  in  Mexico  than  in 
this  country,  tobacco  costs  there  on  an  average,  24^  cents  per 
pound,  while  it  is  sold  here  at  8%  cents  per  pound. 

I  shall  not  speak  of  the  products  of  the  cold  climate,  like 
wheat,  barley,  oats,  etc.,  because  the  climate  and  soil  of  this 
country  are  naturally  adapted  for  such  culture,  while  for  tropical 
products  the  conditions  are  decidedly  in  favor  of  Mexico ;  but 
despite  the  fact  that  we  also  have  cold  regions  in  Mexico,  and 
notwithstanding  the  difference  in  wages,  wheat  is  worth  there 
twice  as  much  as  here,  and  there  is  about  the  same  difference  in 
the  price  of  corn. 

It  is  much  the  same  with  manufactured  articles,  like  common  \ 
printing  paper,  which  in  the  United  States  is  worth  about  3  cents  \ 
a  pound  and  in  Mexico  15  cents,  although  we  have  abundant 
raw  material  and  water  power  for  its  manufacture.  To  encourage 
the  making  of  paper  we  established  an  import  duty  on  foreign 
unsized  and  half-sized  paper  of  10  cents  per  kilogram,  or  over  5 
cents  per  pound,  equivalent  to  over  100  per  cent  ad  valorem, 
which  was  reduced  by  our  present  tariff  to  5  cents  per  kilogram 
for  the  ur  sized,  keeping  the  duty  of  10  cents  on  the  half-sized 
paper;  and  notwithstanding  this  we  import  printing  paper  from 
this  country,  where  the  wages  are  so  high  compared  with  ours. 
Something  similar  happens  with  cottons  and  cotton  prints,  the 
former  being  worth  5  cents  per  yard  in  this  country  and  from  10 
to  15  cents  per  vara  of  33  English  inches  in  Mexico,  and  the 
latter,  which  are  sold  here  at  8  cents  per  yard,  being  worth  in 
Mexico  about  20  cents  per  yard. 

I  believe  that  the  preceding  facts  show  beyond  all  doubt  that  un- 
less there  is  a  material  change  in  the  present  conditions  of  Mexico, 
there  need  be  no  fear  of  competition  in  the  United  States  from 
Mexican  manufactures  in  articles  produced  by  us  with  cheap  labor. 


142  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

My  country,  too,  has  adopted  the  protection  system,  and  we 
have  carried  it  considerably  further  than  it  ever  was  carried  in  the 
United  States.  We  established  it  originally,  as  it  was  established 
here,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  means  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  the  Government,  and  it  was  developed  under  the  supposition 
that  the  higher  the  import  duties  the  larger  would  be  the  revenue 
yielded ;  but  we  failed  to  consider  that  smuggling  is,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  and  especially  in  countries  like  Mexico,  well  adapted 
for  its  operation,  the  regulator  of  prohibitory  or  exceedingly  high 
duties.  Under  the  protective  duties  several  industries  have  been 
established  at  home  which  are  now  greatly  interested  in  the  per- 
manency of  the  present  system.  The  import  duty  upon  common 
cotton  goods,  which  is  the  material  worn  by  the  largest  portion  of 
the  Mexican  population,  is  from  9  to  17  cents  per  square  meter, 
or  over  100  per  cent  on  the  price  of  the  goods  in  England.  Flour 
pays  10  cents  per  kilogram,  or  more  than  5  cents  per  pound, 
equivalent  to  350  per  cent  upon  its  value  in  New  York.  Print- 
ing paper  pays,  as  already  stated,  5  and  10  cents  per  kilogram,  or 
over  2l/2  and  5  cents  per  pound,  equivalent  to  from  100  to  200 
per  cent  ad  valorem.  I  could  multiply  similar  instances  of  high 
duties ;  and  yet  we  have  not  succeeded  in  cheapening  our  prod- 
ucts or  in  perfecting  our  manufactures. 

A  very  suggestive  instance  where  high  duties  encouraged 
smuggling  came  under  my  personal  observation.  Mexican  to- 
bacco could  not  reach  the  northern  States  of  Mexico  on  account  of 
the  high  rates  of  transportation,  to  which  I  have  alluded,  and  it 
could  not  be  raised  close  by  because  its  culture  was  for  several 
years  a  Government  monopoly.  Therefore,  the  inhabitants  of 
that  region  used  tobacco  raised  in  the  United  States,  which  they 
bought  at  a  moderate  price.  Our  import  duty  on  tobacco  up  to 
the  year  1878  was  $1.25  per  kilogram,  or  about  66  cents  per 
pound,  and  although  tobacco  from  the  United  States  was  con- 
sumed in  all  the  frontier  of  Mexico,  and  that  was  the  only  tobacco 


MEXICO.  143 

imported  in  the  free  zone,  which  at  that  date  was  limited  to  the 
State  of  Tamaulipas,  and  although  the  yearly  importation  ex- 
ceeded 1,000,000  pounds,  yet  there  hardly  appeared  in  the  treasury 
any  revenue  collected  on  this  article.  At  that  time  I  had  the  treas- 
ury department  of  Mexico  under  my  charge,  and,  having  observed 
this  fact,  I  obtained  the  sanction  of  the  President,  who  then  had  full 
authority  from  Congress  for  that  purpose,  and  reduced  the  duty 
on  tobacco  to  the  comparatively  moderate  amount  of  16  cents  per 
kilogram,  or  less  than  8  cents  per  pound;  and  from  that  time  we 
derived  some  revenue  from  foreign  tobacco.  I  could  mention 
many  other  instances  as  forcible  as  this  one. 

As  the  system  of  collecting  import  duties  ad  valorem  is  liable 
to  many  frauds,  Mexico  has  adopted  specific  duties,  or  a  fixed 
amount  per  weight,  unit,  or  measure.  Although  this  system  has 
the  disadvantage  that  the  duty  is  not  proportionate  to  the  price 
of  the  merchandise,  as  is  theoretically  the  ad  valorem  duty,  it  is 
not  liable  to  so  many  frauds  as  the  other,  and  for  that  reason,  I 
understand,  it  has  been  adopted  by  most  of  the  European  nations. 

Agricultural  products  of  this  country,  like  wheat,  cotton,  and 
other  farm  products,  notwithstanding  the  high  wages  paid  here  to 
field  laborers,  compete  in  the  English  and  other  free  foreign 
markets,  and  successfully  sustain  a  sharp  competition  with  similar 
foreign  products  obtained  with  low  wages,  in  some  cases  even 
lower  than  in  Mexico,  as  in  the  case  of  China  and  the  East  Indies. 
There  need,  therefore,  be  no  fear  of  competition  from  Mexico. 

I  believe  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  the  neces- 
sary pluck  and  fitness  to  compete  with  any  other  people  in  the 
world  in  the  production  of  manufactured  articles.  It  is  true  the 
high  wages  paid  here,  the  import  duties  upon  raw  materials,  and 
the  higher  price  of  coal  than  in  some  other  countries,  enhance  the 
cost  of  the  production  of  certain  commodities  as  compared  with" 
similar  ones  manufactured  in  England,  France,  Germany,  and 
Belgium;  but  it  must  at  the  same  time  be  remembered  that  the 
application  of  machinery,  which  is  used  here  on  a  much  larger 


144  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

scale  than  in  any  other  country,  cheapens  production  so  greatly 
that  it  enables  this  country  to  manufacture  many  articles  at  a  less 
cost  than  any  other.  An  instance  of  this  is  the  manufacture  of 
steel  rails  in  the  Edgar  Thompson  factory,  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  where 
the  entire  production  being  mechanical,  few  hands  are  employed 
and  where  natural  gas  is  used  as  fuel. 

High  duties  collected  in  Mexico,  amounting  in  some  cases  to 
even  300  per  cent  ad  valorem,  have  not  increased  or  cheapened 
our  producton.  Our  imports  in  the  fiscal  year  ended  on  the  30th 
of  June,  1889,  the  last  one  for  which  official  data  have  been  pub- 
lished, amounted  to  $40,024,894.32 ;  if  we  deduct  from  this  the 
free  articles,  valued  at  $  13,506,230.23,  we  shall  have  as  the  dutiable 
merchandise  $26,51 8,66409,  yielding  a  revenue  of  $22,477,962.95, 
or  an  average  of  84.7  per  cent,  which  is  larger  in  proportion  than 
that  of  any  other  American  nation,  and  almost  double  that  of  the 
United  States,  where  the  average  was  4441  per  cent  for  the  fiscal 
year  ending  on  the  30th  of  J  une,  1 890 ;  the  value  of  the  dutiable 
articles  amounting  to  $507,511,764,  and  the  import  duties  to 
$226,540,037.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  and  although  our  wages 
are  lower  than  those  in  this  country,  our  production  is  considerably 
dearer. 

I  should  be  very  glad  if  the  explanations  made  in  this  article 
result  is  dispelling  the  errors  prevailing  in  this  country  in  regard 
to  the  conditions  of  labor  in  Mexico ;  and  hope  that,  in  case  re- 
strictions against  Mexican  trade  are  discussed,  they  will  not  be 
urged  on  the  ground  that  our  articles  are  produced  with  peon 
labor.  I  sincerely  hope  that  both  countries,  instead  of  acting  in 
a  way  contrary  to  the  ends  of  nature,  which  has  placed  one  beside 
the  other,  and  has  given  them  different  climates,  productions,  and 
possibilities,  will  cooperate  with  the  purpose  of  nature,  and,  not 
interpose  other  obstacles  to  reciprocal  trade  than  those  absolutely 
necessary  for  their  mutual  well-being  and  progress. 

Note. — In  confirmation  of  the  data  contained  in  the  article  on  "Wages  in 
Mexico,"  published  in    the  North  American    Review    of  January,     1892,   the 


MEXICO.  145" 

following  statement  is  given,  taken  from  the  list  of  current  prices  of  Mexican 
products,  which  appeared  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the  Federal  Government  of 
Mexico,  of  December  15  1891,  showing  the  price  of  a  fanega  of  corn,  equiva- 
lent to  about  z%  bushels,  in  different  parts  of  the  country: 

At  Tepic  (Territory  of  Tepic) $1.  87 

At  Guadalajara  (Jalisco) $2.  25    to  2.  50 

At  Cuatxingo  (Mexico) 3.  50 

At  Allende  (Chihuahua) 4. 50 

At  Alamos  (Sonora) , 6.  50 

At  Culiacan  (Sinaloa) 11.  00 

This  remarkable  difference  in  price  is  also  noticed  on  some  other  grains  and 
produce,  such  as  beans,  chick-peas,  wheat,  and  barley,  and  is  due  to  the  different 
conditions  of  each  locality,  and  specially  to  the  abundance  or  scarcity  of  rain, 
which  naturally  affects  the  crops,  as  also  to  the  difficulty  of  communications  and 
the  consequent  high  freights.  Prices  would  find  their  level  if  the  grain  could, 
for  instance,  be  carried  profitably  from  the  places  where  it  is  abundant  to  those 
where  the  crops  have  failed  or  been  poor.  This  state  of  affairs,  however,  goes 
to  show  the  great  chances  open  to  business  in  Mexico. 

INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 
INDUSTRIAL    DEVELOPMENT    OF    MONTEREY. 

The  city  has  three  cotton  factories  which  alone  represent  an 
invested  capital  of  $3,000,000,  a  woolen  factory  not  at  present  in 
operation  with  a  capital  of  $200,000 ;  the  Monterey  shirt  and 
underwear  factory,  capital  invested,  $50,000,  and  three  hat  factories 
with  a  combined  capital  of  $85,000.  Other  industries  not  of  a 
textile  nature  are  as  follows-: 

Flouring  mills  (3) $200,  000 

Starch  factory 100, 000 

Brick  factories  (4) 100,  000 

Iron  and  brass  foundry 175,  000 

Smelters 3,  000,  000 

Furniture  factories  (2) 150,  000 

fC       Breweries  (2) 350, 000     y 

Soap  factories 100,  000 

Sugar  factory 100,  000 

Electric  light  plant 120,  000 

Bull.  41 10 


I46  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Monterey  refrigerator $75,  000 

Steam  laundry 60,  000 

Tanneries 100,  000 

Carriage  factories 75,  000 

Masa  manufacture  for  tortillas 30,  000 

There  are  employed  in  the  various  textile  factories  of  Mexico 
10,741  men,  2,489  women,  and  1,859  children. 

The  State  of  Tamaulipas  has  exempted  from  all  forms  of  local 
\  taxation,  for  three  years,  all  new  cotton  plantations  and  the 
machinery  thereon. 

Interesting  advices  of  the  development  of  manufacturing  capaci- 
ties of  Chihuahua,  Mexico,  have  been  received.  The  Mexican 
Industrial  Company  of  Chihuahua,  which  has  been  extensively 
engaged  in  the  production  of  cast  iron  and  steel  from  its  valuable 
mines,  and  the  manufacture  of  heavy  machinery,  is  about  to  extend 
the  field  of  its  operations  and  is  now  constructing  large  shops  to 
be  used  in  the  manufacturing  of  articles  of  hardware  and  husbandry, 
which  are  now  imported  from  abroad,  such  as  nails,  screws,  nuts, 
rods,  valves,  kettles,  plates,  presses,  etc.;  also  bronze  in  various 
shapes.  As  there  are  extensive  beds  of  excellent  quality  of  clay  in 
the  neighborhood  a  number  of  large  kilns  for  burning  fire  bricks 
are  in  course  of  erection.  The  fuel  to  be  used  in  the  new  works 
will  be  hydrocarbon  gas,  and  for  this  purpose  an  immense  pump 
has  been  ordered,  with  other  necessary  machinery.  There  are  at 
present  employed  in  the  shops  some  150  workmen,  all  Mexicans, 
which  number  will  be  greatly  increased  so  soon  as  the  new  depart- 
ments are  ready  to  begin  operation.  The  probable  proceeds  ot  the 
establishment  for  the  next  twelve  months  will  be  over  half  million 
dollars.  The  enlargement  of  this  undertaking  will  have  the 
greatest  beneficial  influence  on  the  prosperity  of  Chihuahua,  not 
only, from  the  amount  of  money  which  its  operations  will  put  in 
circulation  in  the  neighborhood,  but  in  a  greater  degree  from  the 
increased  opportunities  which  will  afford  tor  providing  remunera- 
tive employment  to  the  people. 


MEXICO. 


H7 


REVENUES. 

The  returns  concerning  the  revenues  of  Mexicc  show  that  Re- 
public to  be  in  a  most  prosperous  condition.  The  debt  now  con- 
sists of  $52,500,000  external  6  per  cent  bonds,  $30,000,000 
of  6  per  cent  bonds  issued  for  railway  subsidies,  and  $24,000,000 
internal  bonds  bearing  3  per  cent  interest.  The  Government  is 
also  responsible  for  $6,500,000  bonds  of  the  Tehuantepec  Rail- 
road and  $2,500,000  6  per  cent  silver  bonds  of  the  Monterey 
Railroad.  On  the  total  interest  of  about  $6,250,000  a  year  is  re- 
quired. With  the  prosperity  indicated  by  the  growth  of  exports 
of  home  produce  there  has  been  a  rapid  increase  in  the  income  of 
the  nation.  The  following  statement  shows  the  revenues  of  the 
Government  from  various  sources  from  1887  to  1890,  and  the 
estimated  revenues  for  1891-92: 


Year. 


1887 
I88S 
1889 
1S9O 
1891 
1892 


Duties. 


Dollars. 
18,021,  787 

19.  657,  740 
19,  711,  192 

22,  939,  269 

23,  800,  OOO 

24,  600,  OOO 


Interior  taxes. 


Dollars. 
II,  211,  Il6 
II,  726,  510 
11,964,390 
12,938,  8ll 
13,  500,  OOO 
13,  OOO,  OOO 


Sundries. 


Dollars. 
2,  068,  237 
2,486,826 

2,5H,545 

2,  568,  613 

3,  200,  000 
3,  400,  000 


Total. 


Dollars. 
31,301,140 
33,871,076 

34,  187,  127 
38,  446,  693 

40,  OOO,  OOO 

41,  400,  OOO 


The  difference  of  $8,700,000  between  1887  and  1891  repre- 
sents a  gain  of  about  27^  per  cent. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  is  informed  of  the  decree 
issued  by  the  President  of  Mexico  concerning  the  future  opera- 
tions of  the  Mexican  bureau  of  public  debt.  Under  the  authority 
of  Congress  President  Diaz  decrees  that  as  it  is  indispensably  nec- 
essary for  the  consolidation  of  the  national  credit  to  determine  the 
exact  amount  of  the  public  debt  and  the  obligation  of  the  Govern- 
ment, all  persons  who  have  claims  against  the  Republic  of  Mexico 
must  present  them  on  or  before  the  31st  of  March,  1892,  when 
they  will  be  examined  by  the  bureau  of  public  debt  and  reported 
upon  to  the  treasury. 


148 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


COINAGE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC  DURING  THE  YEAR  1891. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  has  received  the  official 
figures  of  the  coinage  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico  during  the  last 
fiscal  year,  ending  June  30,  1891.  There  are  eleven  mints  in  the 
Republic,  and  the  following  statement  shows  the  amount  of  coin- 
age in  silver  and  gold  at  each: 


Mint. 

Silver. 

Gold. 

Alamos   

Dollars. 
515,  500.  OO 
.       852,  502.  OO 

.    2,  082,  720.  OO 

,  1,292,  55$.  75 

»   1,752,350.50 

♦  3,  597.  850.  00 

•  »  5°7,  9°°-  00 
^  7,  910,  200.  00 

224,  600.  00 
•  1,  400,  210.  00 
%  4,  046,  000.  00 

Dollars. 
27,  900 
14,  889 
47,400 

Culiacan 

Durango 



27,  500 

109,  731 

Oaxaca 

20,  663 

Total #. . 

24,  237,  449.  25 

308,  083 

\ 

The  amount  of  copper  coins  issued  by  the  Mexico  City  mint  is 
$2 1 8,869.2 1 .  The  total  amount  of  the  year's  coinage  is,  therefore, 
$24,764,401.86.  The  total  coinage  for  the  fiscal  year  1889-90 
was  $24,706,256.92,  showing  the  sum  of  $58,144.94  in  favor  of 
1890-91. 

The  statistics  of  the  mail  matter  handled  by  the  Mexican  Post- 
office  during  the  first  six  months  of  the  calendar  year  1891  show 
a  very  large  increase  over  the  previous  year,  which  numbered 
65,57 1,650  pieces>  a  gam  over  me  preceding  half-year  of  1,609, 182 
pieces.  The  first-class  matter,  including  ordinary  letters  and  writ- 
ten communications,  totaled  26,315,398  pieces,  and  the  printed 
matter,  circulars,  book-packets,  samples,  etc.,  amounted  to  38,658,- 
209  pieces.  Registered  matter,  delivered  and  sent,  consisted  of 
598,043  pieces,  against  575,266  in  the  preceding  half  year. 


MEXICO.  149 

Information  received  shows  that  the  number  of  new  post-offices 
established  in  Mexico  in  1891  is  the  greatest  on  record,  and  that 
the  receipts  of  the  Post-Office  Department  were  never  so  large  be- 
fore. This  is  one  of  the  surest  indications  of  the  country's  pros- 
perity. 

The  Congress  of  Mexico  has  conferred  special  powers  upon 
President  Diaz  to  enable  him  to  alter  contracts  and  concessions 
for  public  works  at  his  discretion  in  such  a  manner  as  to  promote 
their  rapid  construction  and  early  completion,  it  being  provided, 
however,  that  the  cost  and  expenditures  of  the  Government  shall 
in  no  way  be  increased  by  the  Executive  acts. 

The  Mexican  Congress-  has  just  approved  the  contract  with 
Richard  Kent  for  the  establishment  of  an  international  bank  of 
deposit,  discount,  and  guaranty.  This  will  be  the  first  institution 
in  Mexico  which  has  undertaken  to  attempt  the  position  of  a  se- 
curity for  public  and  private  employes.  The  company  will  also 
open  storage  warehouses  and  will  issue  certificates  of  goods  stored. 
It  will  also  offer  its  services  in  the  placing  of  State  and  municipal 
loans.  Its  capital  must  be  at  least  $500,000,  of  which  two-fifths 
must  be  paid  in  before  it  will  be  allowed  to  begin  operations. 

The  Government  of  Mexico  has  granted  a  concession  to  Miguel 
G.  and  Manuel  A.  Lizardi  for  the  erection  in  the  City  of  Mexico 
of  a  first-class  hotel  on  the  scale  of  the  great  hotels  in  Europe  and 
the  United  States.  The  concession  is  now  before  the  Congress 
of  Mexico  for  approval.  Under  the  conditions  the  hotel  must  be 
erected  upon  plans  approved  by  the  department  of  works,  and 
must  be  finished  within  a  year  after  the  granting  of  the  concession. 
It  is  to  be  exempt  from  taxation  for  a  period  of  two  years,  and  all 
material  necessary  for  its  construction  will  be  admitted  through 
the  custom-house  free  of  duty.  « 

The  Government  of  Mexico  has  entered  into  a  contract  with 
Capt.  Brenton,  of  the  British  navy,  to  fit  out  a  training  ship  for 
the  education  of  Mexican  boys    in    seamanship.     The   training 


I50  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

vessel  will  be  equipped  at  Liverpool,  and  several  retired  officers  of 
the  English  navy  will  go  as  instructors.  The  vessel  will  proceed 
from  Liverpool  to  Vera  Cruz,  and  there  receiving  its  cadets,  will 
start  on  a  voyage  around  the  world. 

Several  of  the  Mexican  States  have  decided  to  establish  perma- 
nent sample  rooms  for  the  exhibition  of  their  resources  and  prod- 
ucts in  London,  Havre,  and  New  York. 

The  city  of  Colima,  Mexico,  has  made  a  contract  for  an  elec- 
tric-light plant. 

A  building  association  has  been  organized  in  the  City  of  Mexico 
with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000.  The  stockholders  are  nearly  all 
citizens  of  the  United  States  residing  in  Mexico. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  is  informed  from  official 
sources  that  there  are  now  in  operation  in  the  Republic  of  Mexico 
10,183  kilometers  of  railway,  which  is  equal  to  6,325  miles. 

THE  MEXICAN  SOUTHERN  RAILWAY. 

ITS    HISTORY    AND    PRESENT    CONDITION WEALTH    OF   THE   STATE  OF 

OAXACA ENGINEERING    DIFFICULTIES. 

[From  the  Mexican  Financier.} 

Now  that  the  Mexican  Southern  Railroad  is  in  a  few  weeks  to 
be  opened  for  public  traffic  from  Puebla  to  Tecomavaca,  a  dis- 
tance of  224  kilometres,  a  brief  account gi  the  history  and  pros- 
pects of  this  line  will  be  of  interest  to  our  readers. 

Mr.  H.  Rudston  Read,  of  the  firm  of  Read  &  Campbell,  was 
impressed  with  the  value  of  the  concession  owned  by  General 
Mier  y  Teran  on  a  journey  made  to  Oaxaca  for  business  purposes 
in  the  year  1886,  and  shortly  afterwards  negotiations  were  opened 
with  the  intention  of  acquiring  the  concession.  The  concession 
was  obtained  in  Mr.  Read's  name  in  May,  1888,  modifications  of 
same  being  published  in  the  Diario  Oricial  oi  the  JOth  May, 
1889.     The  location  of  the  line  was  immediately  proceeded  with 


MEXICO.  l^l 

under  the  direction  of  Mr.  J.  E.  Earley,  and  in  May,  1889,  a 
company  was  formed  in  London  for  the  purpose  of  constructing 
what  is  known  as  line  No.  1,  viz,  from  Puebla  to  Tecomavaca. 

The  company  was  formed  with  a  capital  of  ,£  1,1 00,000,  ^600,- 
000  debentures,  ,£500,000  in  preference,  and  ^500,000  in  ordi- 
nary shares.  The  Trustees  and  Executors'  Insurance  Corpora- 
tion were  appointed  trustees  for  the  bondholders,  and  a  board  of 
directors  of  the  highest  character — including  such  names  as  that 
of  the  Rt.  Hon.  A.  J.  Mundella,  Mr.  Gomez  Farias,  Hon.  H.  W. 
Campbell,  L.  L.  Dillwyn,  m.  p.,  G.  E.  Paget,  deputy  chairman 
Midland  Railway,  and  Sir  George  Russell,  m.  p. — was  constituted. 
In  May  of  1889,  a  contract  was  made  by  the  company  with 
Messrs.  Read  &  Campbell  for  constructing  the  line  from  Puebla 
to  Tecomavaca,  and  in  the  month  of  September  of  the  same  year 
construction  was  commenced.  On  leaving  Puebla  the  road  runs 
parallel  to  the  Interoceanic  for  a  short  distance  until  Amozoc  is 
reached,  and  then  continues  via  Tepeaca,  Tecamachalco,  and 
Tlacotepec  to  Tehuacan,  a  distance  of  127  kilometres.  The  work 
on  this  section  of  line  No.  1  is  of  a  light  character,  the  road  pass- 
ing through  a  gently  undulating  valley,  the  level  of  Puebla  being 
about  2,150  metres  above  sea  level,  that  of  Tehuacan  1,650  me- 
tres, the  maximum  grade  not  exceeding  1.80  per  cent.  There 
are  no  works  of  any  great  importance  on  this  section  of  the  line, 
and  no  bridges  of  large  span  with  the  exception  of  two  shortly 
before  reaching  Tlacotepec,  one  of  30  metres  and  another  of  25 
metres.  The  country  through  which  this  section  of  the  road  passes 
is  a  rich  agricultural  district,  well  populated,  and  raising  large 
quantities  of  maize,  wheat,  barley,  etc.,  the  production  of  which 
will  undoubtedly  be  considerably  stimulated  by  the  building  of 
the  railroad,  which  will  enable  the  farmers  to  command  more  dis- 
tant markets. 

The  construction  of  this  section  of  the  road  was  finished  on  the 
12th  of  January,  1891,  and  the  line  accepted  by  the  Government 


152  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

and  opened  to  public  traffic  on  the  9th  of  February  of  the  present 
year.  The  construction  of  the  road  on  this  section,  and  as  far  as 
Tecomavaca,  as  well  as  on  that  part  still  in  course  of  building,  is 
of  a  very  first-class  character,  and  decidedly  superior  to  any  other 
road  yet  built  in  this  country,  and  as  a  narrow-gauge  road  not  sur- 
passed even  in  the  United  States.  The  weight  of  the  rails  used 
is  50  pounds  per  yard,  and  two-thirds  of  the  whole  distance  from 
Puebla  to  Tecomavaca  is  laid  with  steel  sleepers  weighing  60 
pounds  each,  to  which  the  rails  are  secured  by  steel  keys.  The 
fishplates  are  what  are  known  as  angle  fishplates,  and  weigh  25 
pounds  per  pair.  Where  wood  ties  are  used,  these  are  all  of  oak, 
and  are  of  a  first-class  character.  The  ties  are  spaced  1,370  to  the  ■ 
kilometre,  or  2,200  to  the  mile.  The  masonary  throughout  is  of 
the  best  quality,  and  no  temporary  openings  of  any  kind  have  been 
put  in,  all  the  work  being  of  a  permanent  character.  All  streams 
of  any  importance  are  crossed  by  wrought-iron  girders  or  iron  truss 
bridges ;  small  culverts  are  constructed  with  iron  girders,  or  arched 
with  masonry,  and  in  culverts  of  5  meters'  opening  or  less  wrought- 
iron  beams  have  been  used.  The  road  is  completely  ballasted 
throughout,  the  ballast  being  laid  to  a  depth  of  30  centimeters  boxed 
up  flush  with  the  top  of  the  sleepers,  and  2^  meters  wide  at  the  top. 
We  believe  that  this  is  the  only  case  in  which  the  contractors  have 
handed  a  road  over  to  the  Government  in  this  country  completely 
ballasted,  and  with  all  station  buildings,  etc.,  erected.  The  station 
buildings  throughout  the  line  are  of  very  first-class  construction, 
and  all  of  a  permanent  character.  The  main  station  in  Puebla  is 
a  handsome  and  commodious  building,  built  entirely  of  stone.  The 
workshops  at  Puebla  have  been  laid  out  in  accordance  with  the 
most  modern  ideas,  and  the  buildings  are  all  constructed  of  stone 
with  iron  roofs.  The  shops,  running  sheds,  etc.,  are  all  in  com- 
plete working  order,  and  have  been  so  for  some  time.  The  yard 
facilities  at  Puebla  are  very  good,  and  the  whole  has  been  laid  out 
with  special  attention  to  the  possible  requirements  of  future  traffic. 


MEXICO.  153 

Proper  water  tanks,  and  houses,  varying  from  a  capacity  of  15 
to  6,000  gallons  have  been  provided  at  all  points  where  necessary 
along  the  line,  being  filled  by  gravitation,  where  possible,  through 
galvanized  wrought-iron  tubes,  but  where  this  is  not  practicable 
steam  pumps  have  been  put  in.  A  double  line  of  telegraph  has 
been  provided  of  the  best  possible  character,  with  porcelain  insu- 
lators, and  20  posts  per  mile,  while  ink-recording  instruments,  bat- 
teries, and  all  other  appliances  have  been  provided  at  each  station 
or  passing  place.  The  rolling  stock  is  far  superior  to  any  in  use  on 
any  of  the  narrow-gauge  roads  in  this  country,  and  may  even  be 
considered  as  possibly  too  good  for  the  requirements.  The  pas- 
senger cars  of  all  classes  are  finished  in  teak  on  the  outside,  and 
picked  out  with  gold  letters,  the  roofs  slightly  arched,  and  covered 
with  white  canvas,  and  the  general  appearance  of  the  train  is  ex- 
ceedingly pleasing  to  the  eye,  while  it  is  easily  seen  that  every- 
thing is  of  very  superior  character.  The  locomotives,  as  well  as 
the  rolling  stock,  which  is  modeled  on  the  American  plan,  were  all 
constructed  in  England.  Those  provided  for  Line  1  consist  of 
locomotives  of  the  following  types :  Passenger  engines,  four  wheels 
coupled;  outside  cylinders  14 by  22  inches  stroke  ;  driving  wheels 
4  feet  3  inches  diameter;  four-wheeled  bogie  truck.  Weight 
with  tender,  39  gross  tons,  without  fuel  and  water.  Freight  en- 
gines outside  cylinders  16  by  22  inches;  six  wheels  coupled,  driv- 
ing wheels  4  feet  diameter ;  four-wheeled  bogie  trucks ;  weight 
with  tender,  43^  gross  tons,  without  fuel  and  water.  Also  tank 
locomotives,  weight  20  gross  tons,  without  fuel  and  water. 

Those  provided  for  Line  No.  2,  Tecomavaca  to  Oaxaca,  on 
which  the  heaviest  grades  occur,  are  of  the  following  type :  Tank 
locomotives,  six  wheels  coupled,  four-wheeled  bogie,  with  outside 
frames;  outside  cylinders  16  inches  diameter,  20-inch  stroke; 
rigid  wheel  base,  7  feet  1  inch ;  total  wheel  base,  1 8  feet  1 1  inches ; 
heating  surface,  total,  1,892.7  square  feet. 

Section  2,  Line  1,  from  Tehuacan  to  Tecomavaca,  included  in 


154  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

the  original  contract,  has  just  been  completed  and  will  be  opened 
to  public  traffic  on  the  1st  of  August.  The  total  length  of  opened 
line  will  then  be  225  kilometers  (Line  1).  The  construction 
difficulties  on  this  section  (2)  have  been  considerably  greater  than 
on  section  1.  The  line,  after  leaving  Tehuacan,  passes  by  Santa 
Cruz,  San  Sebastian,  Venta  Salada,  San  Antonio,  and  Nanhuati- 
pan.  Shortly  after  this  it  enters  the  canon  of  the  Rio  Salado,  and 
further  on  a  continuation  of  the  same  canon,  called  the  "  Canon 
de  los  Cues,"  emerging  finally  at  Tecomavaca.  Up  to  the  time 
of  reaching  San  Antonio  the  line  passes  through  a  very  rich  agri- 1 
cultural  country,  raising  sugar,  maize,  and  other  cereals  in  great 
abundance,  the  country  being  very  well  populated.  Shortly  after 
passing  San  Antonio  the  two  mountain  ranges  which  have  hith- 
erto bordered  the  railway — one  on  either  side,  forming  the  valley 
through  which  the  railway  passes — suddenly  commence  to  close 
in,  forming  a  deep  canon,  through  which  the  Rio  Salado  flows 
southward,  forming  later  on,  by  its  junction  with  the  Rio  Grande, 
the  Rio  Papaloapam.  This  canon  becomes  very^  confined  further^ 
on,  at  a  point  where  it  bears  the  name  of  "  Los  Cues,"  and  here 
the  most  difficult  part  of  the  construction  has  been  encountered, 
some  exceedingly  heavy  work  having  been  executed  on  this  part 
of  the  line,  the  general  features  being  very  similar  in  many  points 
to  those  on  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  in  the  Marshall  Pass, 
with  the  exception  that  the  "Canon  de  los  Cues"  is  somewhat y 
wider ;  on  Line  2  the  similarity  is  more  striking. 

The  traffics,  so  far  as  section  1  of  Line  1  is  concerned,  have 
proved  considerably  in  excess  of  what  was  anticipated  by  the  con- 
tractors, in  spite  of  the  fact  that  this  season  has  been  by  no  means 
a  fair  test,  as  the  severe  drought  of  1890  reduced  the  crops  in  the 
district  by  one-half  or  more.  It  is  hoped  that  the  traffic  receipts, 
with  regard  to  the  balance  of  Line  1  to  Tecomavaca,  when  it  is 
opened  for  traffic,  will  also  turn  out  to  be  in  excess  of  those  antici- 
pated by  the  contractors. 


MEXICO.  155 

The  capital  necessary  for  the  construction  of  Line  2  was  raised 
in  September,  1890,  and  the  contract  signed  with  Messrs.  Read  & 
Campbell  on  the  10th  of  September  for  the  construction  of  this 
line  from  Tecomavaca  to  Oaxaca.  The  location  of  this  portion 
of  the  line  was  completed  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  J.  E.  Earley, 
and  on  account  of  the  difficulties  and  the  necessity  for  an  extremely 
careful  study  it  occupied  some  two  years.  Construction  was  com- 
menced in  October,  1890.  The  line,  after  leaving  Tecomavaca, 
crosses  the  Rio  Salado  by  means  of  a  bridge  of  two  50-meter 
spans,  and  shortly  afterward  the  Rio  Grande  with  a  similar  bridge. 
It  then  follows  the  course  of  the  Rio  Grande,  passing  by  Cuicat- 
lan  and  San  Pedrito,  and  at  some  31  kilometers  from  Tecoma- 
vaca it  again  crosses  the  Rio  Grande  by  two  40-meter  spans,  and 
hence  follows  the  course  of  the  river  Tomellin,  which  is  known 
further  as  the  river  San  Antonio,  through  a  deep  box  canon.  The 
whole  of  the  construction  from  kilometer  35  to  about  kilometer 
95,  counting  from  Tecomavaca,  is  of  an  extremely  difficult  char- 
acter, the  line  having  to  be  carried  through  the  narrow  and  precip- 
itous canon  of  the  Tomellin  or  San  Antonio  River,  which  at 
many  points  is  entirely  inaccessible  from  the  main  road  on  horse- 
back during  the  wet  season.  As  showing  the  unusual  difficulties 
encountered  on  this  part  of  the  road,  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
the  line  crosses  the  river  seven  times,  and  that  there  are  three  tun- 
nels, besides  several  half-tunnels  or  galleries,  and  in  fact  it  may  be 
said  that  the  work  is  of  the  most  difficult  class  encountered  in 
railway  construction,  apart  from  the  minor  difficulties  of  keeping 
engineers  and  contractors'  camps  supplied  with  food,  and  the  great 
difficulty  of  getting  on  to  the  works  the  explosives,  tools,  and 
other  supplies  necessary  in  order  to  be  able  to  carry  out  the  con- 
struction. This  canon,  between  kilometers  37  and  52,  was  until 
a  special  trail  was  cut  to  connect  with  the  high  road,  at  a  cost  of 
some  thousands  of  dollars,  entirely  inaccessible,  and  had  probably 
until  the  time  of  the  surveys  never  been  traversed. 


I56  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

At  Las  Sedas,  kilometer  97,  the  highest  point  on  the  line  is 
reached,  and  here  some  extremely  heavy  work  occurs  in  through 
cuts.  After  leaving  Las  Sedas  the  line  falls  away  gradually  to 
Oaxaca,  passing  close  to  the  towns  of  Huitzo,  San  Sebastian,  and 
Etla.  The  maximum  grade  permitted  on  this  line  is  4  per  cent, 
and  the  minimum  curve  100  meters  in  radius,  proper  allowance 
being  made  for  compensating  the  resistance  due  to  curvature  on 
the  maximum  grades.  The  elevation  of  Tecomavaca  is  some  600 
meters  above  sea  level,  Las  Sedas  about  1,925,  and  Oaxaca  1,550, 
and  the  total  length  of  Line  2,  143  kilometers.  As  far  as  kilometer 
32  the  road  traverses  a  rich  but  somewhat  narrow  valley,  where 
sugar  cane  is  raised  in  great  abundance  and  where  there  are  nu- 
merous "  haciendas  "  of  considerable  importance.  The  same  district 
is  also  noted  for  the  variety  and  quality  of  the  fruits  produced. 
On  both  sides  of  the  canon  valuable  forests  exist,  and  cereals  of  all 
kinds  are  raised  at  the  higher  levels,  while  after  leaving  Las  Sedas 
the  road  passes  through  the  already  renowned  and  rich  valley  of 
Etla,  which  extends  as  far  as  the  city  of  Oaxaca. 

The  construction  of  Line  2  is  nearly  completed  as  far  as  kilo- 
meter 35,  and  it  is  anticipated  that  the  track  will  be  laid  to  this 
point  by  the  end  of  October.  Work  is  proceeding  very  actively 
along  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  the  line,  and  there  is  every  reason 
to  believe  that  the  locomotive  will  reach  Oaxaca  by  September, 
1892,  and  the  road  be  opened  to  traffic. 

The  main  offices  of  the  contractors,  for  the  purposes  of  this  con- 
tract, are  in  Puebla,  and  the  construction  of  the  road  and  the  man- 
agement of  the  part  already  opened  are  in  charge  of  their  agent, 
Mr.  W.  A.  Eckersley,  with  Mr.  J.  G.  Clow  as  chief  assistant,  the 
engineers  in  charge  of  construction  being  Messrs.  D.  G.  Davies,  J. 
E.  McCurdy,  and  T.  S.  Abbot.  The  traffic  department  is  in 
charge  of  Mr.  W.  Morcom,  already  well  known  in  this  country 
through  his  connection  with  the  National  and  other  railroads. 

Quite  lately  important   modifications  have   been   made  in  the 


MEXICO.  157 

concession  as  granted  to  Mr.  Read,  changes  which  have  made  this 
concession  by  far  the  most  valuable  in  the  Republic.  Lac.  Mar- 
tinez del  Rio,  the  legal  adviser  of  Messrs.  Read  &  Campbell, 
has  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  effecting  these  valuable  changes. 
He  also  represents  the  London  company,  and  all  matters  of  right 
of  way  and  those  of  a  legal  character  have  been  most  ably  treated 
under  his  direction,  thus  avoiding  any  friction  with  the  owners  of 
the  land  and  others  along  the  line  of  the  railway. 

The  Government  inspector  is  Mr.  Francisco  Gonzalez  Cosio, 
well  known  as  the  engineer  in  charge  of  the  construction  of  the 
main  high  road  to  Oaxaca,  and  a  thoroughly  capable  and  practical 
man  in  every  respect. 

The  inhabitants  of  Oaxaca  are  largely  indebted  to  the  liberality 
and  clear-sightedness  of  Gen.  Diaz  and  of  his  ministers  of  public 
works  for  the  construction  of  this  road,  which  will  undoubtedly  be 
of  the  greatest  possible  value  to  them. 

As  regards  traffic,  there  can  hardly  be  any  question  that  the 
traffic  will  be  large  and  lucrative,  once  the  city  of  Oaxaca  is 
reached.  Oaxaca,  which  has  always,  one  may  say,  been  isolated 
and  practically  cut  off  from  communication  with  the  remainder  of 
the  Republic,  has,  in  spite  of  this  great  disadvantage,  become  a 
large  and  important  city.  This  fact  of  itself  proves,  without 
lengthening  this  article  by  adducing  other  facts  and  figures,  what 
the  great  natural  wealth  of  this  part  of  the  country  must  be.  Apart 
from  its  agricultural  resources,  which  are  enormous,  the  mineral 
wealth  of  the  State  is  known  to  be  very  great,  although  as  yet 
comparatively  unexplored,  and  if  the  Government  will  only  con- 
tinue its  policy  of  opening  up  cart  roads  into  the  country,  which 
may  act  as  feeders  to  the  railway,  a  considerable  amount  of  devel- 
opment will  be  effected  even  before  the  arrival  of  the  line  at 
Oaxaca.  It  is  unquestionable  that  great  stimulus  will  be  given 
to  the  undeveloped  and,  in  a  great  measure,  unknown  mining  dis- 
tricts of  the  State  by  the  completion  of  this  road ;  in  fact,  mines 


1^8  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

are  already  being  worked  near  San  Antonio,  on  the  line  of  the 
railway.  It  is  believed  that  the  Tomellin  Canon,  through  which 
the  road  passes  and  which,  as  above  mentioned,  has  been  hitherto 
unexplored,  contains  large  mineral  deposits. 

At  a  later  date  it  is  proposed  to  continue  the  line  to  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  no  doubt  it  might  be  immediately  pushed  with  the 
greatest  advantage  to  Miahuatlan,  as  before  reaching  that  point  it 
already  taps  very  large  plantations  raising  coffee,  cacao,  and  other 
tropical  products  for  which  the  State  is  famous,  and  which  have 
hitherto  found  their  way  out  of  the  country  through  Puerto  Angel 
and  other  ports.  On  the  line  reaching  Miahuatlan  it  would  not 
only  secure  all  this  traffic,  but  would  doubtless  also  prevent  any 
products  being  shipped  out  of  the  country,  even  from  points  beyond 
this,  as  the  railway  would  offer  greater  facilities  for  their  transpor- 
tation. 

The  foregoing  is  a  brief  exposition  of  the  present  position  of 
the  Mexican  Southern  Railway,  and  even  thus  stripped,  as  the  ac- 
count is,  of  the  romance  which  usually,  no  doubt  with  much  reason, 
always  surrounds  the  descriptions  of  the  famous  State  of  Oaxaca, 
traversed  by  this  line,  sufficient  has  been  said  to  prove  that  no  line 
in  this  country  can,  with  a  like  amount  of  reason,  look  forward  to 
such  an  assured  and  prosperous  future. 

RAILROADS  IN  1892. 

The  Mexican  Government  has  recently  published  an  official 
document  containing  detailed  descriptions  of  the  various  railroads 
of  that  country  as  they  existed  on  the  1st  of  January,  1892. 
From  this  report  the  following  table  has  been  collated,  which 
shows  at  a  glance  the  length  of  each  line,  its  capital  stock,  and 
other  useful  data : 


MEXICO. 


'59 


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164  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

MEXICO,  CUERNAVACA  AND  PACIFIC  RAILWAY. 

[From  the  Railway  Age.~\ 

The  line  is  intended  to  run  from  the  City  of  Mexico  in  a 
southerly  direction  through  the  States  of  Morelos,  Guerrero,  and 
Oaxaca  to  the  Pacific  coast  at  Palizada,  a  distance  of  about  300 
miles.  For  the  first  20  miles  it  will  pass  through  a  thickly  settled 
region,  from  which  a  very  large  suburban  freight  and  passenger 
traffic  is  naturally  expected.  The  present  population  of  the  City 
of  Mexico  and  of  the  seven  suburban  places  in  the  distance 
named  is  stated  as  follows:  City  of  Mexico,  350,000;  Tacubaya, 
20,000;  Mixcoac,  8,000;  San  Angel,  8,000;  Coyoacan,  12,000; 
Tlalpam,  18,000;  Xochimilco,  10,000;  Chalco,  6,000;  total, 
432,000.  This  shows  altogether  a  population  of  some  82,000  in 
the  places  outside  the  city,  from  which  suburban  business  is  ex- 
pected. The  Mexico,  Cuernavaca  and  Pacific  Railway  is  to  be 
built  under  a  concession  granted  to  Gen.  Herman  Sturm  in 
May,  1890,  and  it  will  pass  through  a  territory  as  yet  compara- 
tively unsupplied  with  transportation  facilities  and  yet  abounding 
in  agricultural,  mineral,  and  mechanical  products.  Cuernavaca, 
one  of  the  principal  points  to  be  reached,  is  the  capital  of  the  State 
of  Morelos  and  a  city  of  16,000  inhabitants.  It  is  situated  on  the 
south  side  of  a  mountain  and  is  said  to  have  one  of  the  finest 
climates  to  be  found  in  the  world.  Pajizada,  the  proposed  Pacific 
coast  terminus,  is,  it  is  thought,  destined  to  become  the  site  of  a 
large  city,  lying  as  it  does  upon  a  bay  which  forms  a  safe,  land- 
locked harbor,  with  a  depth  of  25  feet  of  water  at  low  tide  and 
entirely  free  from  obstructions.  Major  Butman  estimates  that  the 
entire  line  can  be  constructed  for  a  cost  of  not  over  $20,000  per 
mile,  including  rolling  stock,  shops,  machinery,  and  way  stations, 
though  not  including  expensive  stations  at  the  principal  cities. 
In  regard  to  the  character  and  productions  of  the  country  along 
the  line  he  says: 


MEXICO.  -  165 

The  selection  of  your  line  of  railroad  from  the  City  of  Mexico  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  as  made  by  Gen.  Sturm,  has  been  a  most  happy  one.  The  entire 
distance  is  of  easy  grade,  easy  bridging,  and  without  a  tunnel  on  the  whole  line. 
All  the  material  for  ties,  bridges,  etc.,  is  near  at  hand,  with  abundant  and  cheap 
labor  ready  to  construct  the  road.  Thousand  of  tons  of  sugar,  rice,  brandy,  and 
other  products  of  the  soil,  immense  amounts  of  mineral  products,  not  to  speak 
of  the  vast  quantities  of  fruit,  dyewoods,  etc.,  are  waiting  for  a  railroad  to 
transport  them  to  the  City  of  Mexico  or  to  the  Pacific  and  to  a  market.  The 
route  of  your  road  through  Oaxaca  and  Guerrero  will  pass  through  what  will, 
immediately  upon  its  completion,  become  the  Adirondacks  of  Mexico  and  the 
paradise  of  the  hunting  and  fishing  fraternity.  This  section  of"  the  country 
abounds  in  mountain  streams  filled  with  numerous  specimens  of  valuable  game 
fish,  among  which  I  will  mention  the  trout,  mojarras,  lisa,  bobo,  pollock,  bar- 
bel, robalo,  curbina,  blanquillo,  crawfish,  and  bagre.  The  forests  throughout 
this  section  contain  abundance  of  wild  game,  such  as  the  deer,  ounce,  leopard, 
wild  cat,  tiger,  wolf,  lion,  tapir,  badger,  wild  boar,  weasel,  armadillo,  and  many 
other  wild  animals,  including  eagles  and  an  endless  variety  of  birds,  while  there 
is  no  end  to  the  ducks,  widgeons,  herons,  pheasants,  and  chachalacas.  This 
section  will  soon  become  the  favorite  resort  of  the  hunter  and  fisherman,  both 
for  pleasure  and  profit.  ,  No  such  territory  exists  throughout  the  entire  Republic 
for  the  sportsman  as  your  route  will  open  up,  and  once  open  for  traffic  won- 
ders will  be  worked  in  the  way  of  providing  for  the  immense  rush  of  pleasure- 
seeking  clubs  and  individuals  who  will  not  be  slow  in  improving  the  splendid 
opportunities  offered  throughout  this  vast  tract  of  now  almost  unbroken  wilder- 
ness. It  would  be  folly  to  attempt  anything  like  an  estimate  of  the  traffic  that 
will  seek  an  outlet  to  market  immediately  upon  the  completion  of  your  road. 
Although  Oaxaca  and  Guerrero  are  the  two  richest  mineral  States  of  the  Re- 
public, I  consider  the  traffic  from  the  mines  will  sink  into  insignificance  com- 
pared to  the  lumber  that  will  be  offered  for  transportation. 

The  Mexican  Government  has  just  granted  a  concession  for  a 
standard  gauge  railway  about  350  miles  long  from  the  City  of 
Mexico  to  a  town  on  the  Pacific  coast  now  known  as  Palizada 
Bay,  and  the  letting  of  the  contract  will  take  place  during  the 
present  month.  The  road  will  traverse  what  has  been  considered 
the  richest  mineral  section  of  old  Mexico,  which  not  only  pro- 
duces silver,  g61d,  and  lead  ores,  but  has  also  large  agricultural 
and  timber  resources.    In  addition  to  the  local  traffic  it  is  believed 


l66  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

that  this  line  will  secure  a  large  transcontinental  patronage,  as  it 
will  offer  the  shortest  route  between  Australia  and  Europe. 

The  Government  of  Mexico  has  canceled  the  concession  granted 
to  Gonzalo  A.  Esteva  for  the  construction  of  two  railways  from 
Aguas  Calientes  to  Guadalajara  and  Chamela  on  the  Pacific  coast 
because  of  his  failure  to  comply  with  the  conditions  of  his  contract. 

The  Diario  Oficial  of  Mexico  also  announces  the  forfeiture  of 
the  concession  held  by  Col.  A.  K.  Owen  for  a  railway  from  Topo- 
lobampo  to  Presidio  del  Rio  Grande,  on  the  northern  frontier. 

The  earnings  of  the   Mexican  Central   Railroad  for  October, 

1891,  were  $772,886.95,'which  was  a  large  increase  over  the  same 
month  of  the  previous  year. 

The  first  steamer  of  the  new  line  between  Mobile,  Ala.,  and 
Tampico,  Mexico,  reached  the  latter  port  on  the  7th  of  January, 

1892,  and  was  received  with  great  rejoicing  by  the  people  of  that 
portion  of  the  Mexican  Republic.  Hereafter  these  steamships 
will  run  regularly  every  two  weeks  from  Mobile  to  Tampico,  and 
through  bills  of  lading  will  be  given  from  all  points  in  the  United 
States  to  all  points  in  Mexico. 

TEHUANTEPEC  IMPROVEMENTS. 

The  work  of  improving  the  harbor  of  Coatzacoalcos,  Mexico, 
for  which  a  contract  has  been  made  with  the  Mexican  Harbor 
Improvement  Company,  of  Illinois,  will  be  under  the  charge  of 
Engineer  E.  L.  Corthell,  so  long  associated  with  the  late  Capt 
Eads  in  his  many  important  works.  Mr.  Corthell  expresses  great 
confidence  in  the  success  of  the  enterprise,  which  will  save  2,400 
miles  of  distance  in  the  traffic  from  New  York  and  New  Orleans 
that  now  goes  by  the  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  as  the 
Tehuantepec  Railway  will  connect  Coatzacoalcos  with  Salina 
Cruz,  where  It  is  proposed  to  build  a  breakwater  for  the  protection 
of  th<-  shipping,  the  depth  of  water  being  ample  there,  althdugh  it 
is  now  but  an  open  roadstead.     The  depth  of  water  at  the  crest  of 


MEXICO.  167 

the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  Rio  Coatzacoalcos  is  from  13  to  15  feet, 
and  as  the  river  is  a  very  large  one,  no  trouble  is  anticipated  in  its 
cutting  through  so  as  to  obtain  a  channel  for  the  passage  of  vessels 
of  the  greatest  depth,  the  harbor  itself,  within  the  shore  line,  having 
ample  accommodation  for  the  largest  fleets.  A  maximum  depth 
of  26  feet  in  the  channel  must  be  had  within  three  years  and  a  half, 
and  the  whole  works  finished  and  delivered  in  five  years  and  a  half. 
Besides  building  the  jetties,  the  contractors  must  build  a  pier  500 
meters  long  and  offices  for  the  custom-house,  etc.,  at  a  cost  not  to 
exceed  $25,000.  The  price  to  be  paid  by  the  Government  of 
Mexico  is  $4,300,000,  and  the  company  furnishes  a  guaranty  of 
$200,000. 

Mr.  E.  L.  Corthell,  engineer  in  charge  of  the  harbor  improve- 
ments at  Tampico,  Mexico,  has  made  a  very  good  report  concern- 
ing that  undertaking.  The  breakwater  can  be  said  to  be  almost 
completed  for  a  distance  of  a  mile  and  a  quarter  from  land,  there 
remaining  but  400  feet  to  finish.  The  contractor,  Mr.  Hampson, 
has  during  last  year  actively  pushed  the  work  forward.  Notwith- 
standing that,  owing  to  the  drought  this  year,  the  river  did  not 
have  its  usual  strong  current,  a  mean  depth  of  20  feet  has  been 
obtained  along  the  length  of  the  breakwater.  In  some  places 
there  are  30  feet,  at  a  distance  of  6,000  feet  from  land,  where  a 
year  and  a  half  ago  there  were  but  9  feet  of  water.  Comparing 
the  depth  of  water  in  June  and  October,  it  will  be  seen  that  in 
four  months  the  river  carried  off  1,035,000  cubic  yards  of  deposits. 
At  the  beginning  of  1892  a  depth  of  18  feet  had  been  obtained. 

THE  FEDERAL  TELEGRAPHS. 

BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  THE  SYSTEM  NOW  EXTENDING  OVER  32,000  KILO- 
METERS. 

The  thoroughness  of  construction  is  attested  by  the  fact  that 
the  lines  have  remained  in  operation  during  the  most  severe 
storms.     Among  other   great  tempests  will  be  remembered  the 


i68 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


experience  in  Yucatan,  Campeche,  and  Tabasco,  in  the  winter  of 
1887,  when  the  cyclone  which  produced  such  havoc  interrupted 
the  service  for  only  a  few  days.  At  the  time  of  the  floods  in  Leon 
the  Government  line  alone  remained  in  working  condition,  still 
another  proof  of  the  solidity  above  referred  to.  Lastly,  the  rains 
this  year  have  been  exceptionally  heavy  in  some  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, but  prompt  communication  with  these  places  has  never  been 
lacking  for  more  than  twenty-four  hours  at  a  time. 

The  present  director  established  and  has  maintained  telegraphic 
communication  with  the  States  above  named,  Tabasco,  Campeche, 
and  Yucatan.  To  fully  appreciate  this  statement  it  is  necessary 
to  understand  the  peculiar  difficulties  to  be  overcome,  such  as  the 
climate,  topography,  the  mighty  rivers,  and  even  the  insects,  which 
make  their  nests  and  propagate  in  such  vast  numbers  in  the  insu- 
lators. These  are  some  of  the  obstacles  to  be  counted  on  by 
telegraphers  in  those  places. 

Another  important  improvement  instituted  by  Mr.  Islas  must 
be  mentioned,  namely,  the  laying  of  the  cable  in  two  sections 
across  the  Laguna  de  Terminos,  which  insures  permanent  com- 
munication with  Yucatan,  and  is  much  superior  to  the  private 
company's  cable  to  Galveston,  being  of  a  better  class  and  having 
three  conductors. 

The  offices  are  equipped  with  the  most  modern  instruments, 
and  the  facility  with  which  messages  are  transmitted  and  the 
economy  of  operating  will  be  appreciated  by  anyone,  no  matter 
how  little  conversant  with  the  telegraphic  service. 

The  present  management  is  aware  of  the  improvements  attained 
in  Europe  and  in  the  United  States  as  regards  telegraphs,  and  if, 
having  studied  them,  it  has  not  proposed  their  adoption  in  Mexico, 
it  is  because  they  would  be  barren  of  practical  results  in  our  vast 
territory,  considering  the  needs  of  our  service,  or  are  not  within  our 
means.  However,  the  progress  of  telegraphy  in  other  countries 
is  carefully  watched,  and  any  new  discovery  which  might  profit- 
ably be  transferred  to  our  system  will  be  adopted. 


MEXICO. 


169 


The  adoption  of  a  tariff  was  one  of  the  most  difficult  subjects 
to  be  settled.  Each  that  was  offered  presented  difficuties  arising 
from  the  extent  of  the  Mexican  territory,  its  broken  character,  and 
other  circumstances  that  it  would  be  tedious  to  mention.  The 
present  tariff  was  finally  adopted,  by  which  the  Republic  was  di- 
vided into  circles,  each  having  for  its  center  the  town  from  which 
the  message  was  sent. 

This  system  of  charges  is  like  that  in  operation  in  Russia,  the 
same  reasons  securing  its  adoption  there  as  here.  For  the  press 
there  is  now  a  special  tariff,  the  charge  now  being  1  cent  a  word 
to  any  part  of  the  country.  Even  this  reduced  price  has  been 
thought  high  and  not  at  all  a  liberal  concession.  Much  could  be 
said  in  this  regard,  and  it  would  not  be  out  of  place  to  mention 
that  France,  one  of  the  most  thickly  settled  and  richest  countries 
on  the  globe,  gives  to  the  press  a  rebate  of  only  50  per  cent  on 
its  telegrams. 

Notwithstanding  the  reduced  prices,  the  increase  in  revenue 
during  the  past  five  years  has  been  considerable.  We  give  here- 
with a  statement  of  the  value  of  the  messages,  both  official  and 
private,  transmitted  from  1886  to  1890: 


Year. 


1890 

1889 
1888 
1887 


Official. 


Dollars. 
769,  092.  14 
54O,  694.  40 
474,541.86 
511,899.97 


Totals. 


Dollars. 
952,  492.  08 
785,  980.  99 

886,18.2.53 
904,  965.  23 


As  will  be  seen,  the  revenue  during  the  last  five  years  has  in- 
creased some  $200,000.  Meanwhile,  the  amount  of  official  tele- 
grams has  diminished  correspondingly,  this  result  having  been 
brought  about  by  the  action  of  the  various  department  secretaries, 
who  most  earnestly  recommended  their  subordinates  to  make  a  ju- 
dicious use  of  the  service  and  to  word  their  messages  as  laconically 
as  possible. 


I7O  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Mexican  railways  are  in  a  state  of  active  progress.  A  contract 
has  recently  been  made  with  Mr.  F.  A.  Da  Costa,  of  Eagle  Pass, 
Tex.,  for  the  construction  of  a  narrow-gauge  railroad  43  miles  long, 
from  Sierra  Mojoda  to  the  extensive  salt  deposits  at  Laguna  Jaco, 
on  the  borders  of  the  States  of  Coahuila  and  Chihuahua.  The 
formal  opening  of  the  through  line  of  the  Monterey  and  Mexican 
Gulf  Railway  from  Monterey  to  Tampico  will  take  place  on  the 
16th  instant.  The  National  road  has  just  received  from  the  United 
States  four  new  Baldwin  locomotives,  and  is  daily  having  large 
shipments  of  silver  ore  from  Mexican  mines  to  the  smelters.  More 
than  3,000  men  are  now  at  work  on  the  extension  of  the  Mexican 
Central. 

A  new  steamship  line  has  been  established  between  Mobile, 
Ala.,  and  the  new  port  of  Tampico,  Mexico,  which  promises  to  be 
a  very  important  factor  in  the  development  of  the  commerce  of 
Mexico  and  also  of  the  southern  portion  of  the  United  States. 
The  Mexican  Central  Railroad  has  recently  opened  a  line  to  Tam- 
pico, and,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Government  of  Mexico,  is 
building  a  harbor  there  which,  when  completed,  will  accommodate 
the  largest  steamships  that  float.  The  first  steamer  of  the  new  line 
arrived  at  Mobile  last  week,  and  they  will  now  continue  to  make 
fortnightly  voyages. 

Interesting  advices  of  railway  development  in  Mexico  have  been 
received.  On  the  morning  of  the  1 5th  of  September,  1 89 1 ,  active 
work  was  commenced  at  Torreon,  on  the  extension  of  the  Interna- 
tional Railroad  of  Mexico  to  connect  that  city  with  Durango.  The 
day  was  selected  by  the  president  of  the  road,  Mr.  C.  P.  Hunting- 
ton, in  honor  of  the  birthday  of  the  President  of  the  Republic. 
The  ceremony  of  driving  the  first  spike  was  witnessed  by  a  large 
number  of  the  inhabitants  ot  the  surrounding  country.  Imme- 
diately afterward  the  regular  operations  of  track  laying  were  vigor- 
ously prosecuted.  This  line  will  complete  the  connection  between 
Durango  and  the  interior  cities  of  Mexico,  and  opens  up  to  traffic 


MEXICO.  lyi 

a  very  fertile  portion  of  the  Republic.  The  road  will  be  156 
miles  long,  and  it  is  expected  that  cars  will  be  running  through  to 
Durango  in  less  than  two  years. 

A  strong  company  of  capitalists  has  been  organized  in  Boston 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  what  is  known  as  the  Salazar  con- 
cession for  a  railway  from  Matamoros,  in  Mexico,  in  a  southerly 
direction  to  some  convenient  point  on  the  frontier  of  the  Republic 
of  Guatemala.  The  directors  of  this  company  are  William  A. 
Paine,  Thomas  W.  Pierce,  Feliciano  San  Roman,  Demetrio  Sal- 
azar, Enrique  Viscaya,  Franklin  R.  Brown,  Joseph  S.  Anthony, 
Jacob  M.  Cropley,  and  George  H.  Towle. 

The  earnings  of  the  Mexican  National  Railway  for  the  month  of 
October,  1891,  were  $384,956.79,  being  an  increase  of  $58,987.06 
over  the  corresponding  month  of  1890. 

The  passenger  department  of  the  Mexican  Central  Railroad  is 
preparing  some  magnificent  photographic  views  of  the  picturesque 
scenery  on  the  line  of  its  road,  to  be  exhibited  at  the  World's  Co- 
lumbian Exposition  in  Chicago,  and  will  also  be  sent  to  the  prin- 
cipal cities  of  the  United  States.  The  views  will  be  taken  with 
greatest  possible  care  to  exhibit  the  characteristics  of  the  country 
through  which  the  road  passes,  and  will  be  of  a  very  large  size. 

Detailed  information  has  been  received  relative  to  a  concession 
which  has  been  granted  by  the  Mexican  Government  to  Messrs. 
James  W.  Porch  &  Co.,  of  Philadelphia,  for  the  establishment  of 
a  line  of  steamships  to  ply  between  Philadelphia  and  the  Mexican 
coast  ports.  The  concession  is  a  liberal  one,  and  Messrs.  Porch 
&  Co.  declare  their  intention  to  give  Mexico  an  efficient  freight, 
passenger,  and  mail  coastwise  service.  The  business  men  of 
Philadelphia  are  evincing  the  liveliest  interest  in  the  enterprise,  and 
the  success  of  the  undertaking  from  a  financial  point  of  view  is 
assured.  It  is  proposed  that  the  office  of  the  company  in  Phila- 
delphia shall  be  made  the  headquarters  for  information  of  com- 
mercial interest  regarding  Mexico,  and  Messrs.   Porch  &   Co.  in- 


172  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

tend  publishing  a  monthly  bulletin,  to  be  compiled  from  reports 
of"  agents  in  the  principal  Mexican  cities. 

ACQUISITION  OF  LAND  IN  MEXICO. 

Regarding  the  acquisition  of  land  in  Mexico  the  Bulletin  du 
Musee  Commercial  for  the  14th  of  November,  1891,  has  the  fol- 
lowing : 

The  Mexican  Government  at  present  favors  the  establishment  of  companies 
whose  aim  is  to  measure  and  divide  into  lots  the  numerous  untitled  lands  which 
exist  in  the  Republic.  The  companies,  in  order  to  be  authorized,  must  par- 
ticularize the  lands  which  they  propose  to  measure  and  the  number  of  colonists 
which  they  can  establish  there  within  a  given  time.  One-third  of  the  lands 
thus  measured  is  ceded  to  the  companies,  which  in  their  turn  can  sell  them  by 
lots,  of  which  the  area  does  not  exceed  2,500  hectares.  The  Government  also 
favors  the  establishment  of  companies  whose  object  is  to  introduce  immigrants 
into  the  country.  These  companies  enjoy  the  following  privileges  :  Acquisition 
at  low  prices  and  for  long  terms,  of  national  lands,  free  of  any  tax  except  the 
stamp  duty;  exemption  from  port  dues  for  ships  which  bring  at  least  ten  families 
of  colonists;  exemption  from  import  duties  for  machinery,  tools,  and  animals 
for  the  use  of  the  colonists;  premium  for  each  family  establishment  in  a  colony; 
transport  of  colonists  on  account  of  the  Government. 

Beyond  the  advantages  accruing  to  a  country  with  a  large  immigration, 
favored  bv  the  numerous  concessions  enumerated,  the  Mexican  Government 
proposes,  by  the  sale  of  the  national  lands,  to  liquidate  the  whole  or  part  of  its 
debt,  one-third  of  the  acquisitions  of  land  made  by  the  colonists  or  the  com- 
panies being  payable  in  bonds  of  the  public  debt ;  a  condition  also  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  buyers,  since  these  bonds  can  be  purchased  below  par. 

A  COLONY  ON  THE  ISLAND  GUADALUPE. 

The  department  of  public  works  in  Mexico  has  given  to  Mr. 
Romulo  Vilarasau  a  concession  for  the  colonization  of  the  Island 
of  Guadalupe,  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the  contract  to  run  for  twenty 
years,  with  a  rentage  of  $300  a  year  for  the  first  six  years,  $600 
tor  the  six  following,  and  $800  tor  rhc  last  eight  years.  The 
lessee  has  the  right  to  use  the  forests  and  the  herds  of  wild  goats 
on  the  island,  care  being  taken  to  preserve  both  from  destruction, 
and  he  may  establish  on  the  island  Mexican  and  foreign  colonists. 


MEXICO.  173 

The  Government  offers  for  each  family  200  hectares  (500  acres) 
of  land  up  to  a  total  97,000  hectares,  as  a  compensation  to  the 
concessionaire,  while  each  family  is  entitled  to  eight  hectares  for 
cultivation. 

NEGRO  COLONY  IN  SONORA. 

An  association,  called  "The  American  Colored  Men's  Mexican 
Colonization  Company,"  is  planning  to  establish  a  colony  of  negro 
►  farmers,  coming  chiefly  from  the  States  of  Mississippi  and  Ten- 
nessee, in  the  State  of  Sonora,  Mexico,  and  it  has  arranged  for 
the  purchase  of  a  tract  of  100,000  acres  about  20  miles  south 
of  Yuma,  Ariz.,  on  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad,  at  a  place 
where  the  remains  of  the  Lerdo  colony,  founded  by  Mr.  C.  An- 
drade,  of  San  Francisco,  still  remain. 

The  Mexican  Government  has  granted  a  concession  to  Mr. 
Arthur  C.  Reeves,  authorizing  him  to  establish  in  the  State  of 
Puebla  a  colony  of  Swedish  farmers  and  artisans.  Mr.  Reeves  is 
to  be  granted  the  territory  known  as  the  Mesa  de  Coroneles,  at 
the  nominal  price  of  $2.50  per  hectare,  payable  in  bonds  of  the 
Mexican  Government  or  custom-house  certificates,  which  is 
equivalent  to  about  25  cents  per  acre  in  cash,  and  is  to  have  ten 
years  in  which  to  make  the  payment.  The  colony  is  granted  un- 
usual annuities,  exemptions,  and  privileges. 

A  party  of  colonists,  numbering  130,  has  recently  arrived  at 
Guaymas,  Mexico,  en  route  for  Topolobampo.  These  emigrants 
are  well  equipped  with  tools  for  farming,  blacksmith  shops  and 
other  occupations,  and  are  furnished  with  ample  supplies  of  pro- 
visions, cattle,  etc.  Notwithstanding  the  numerous  unfavorable 
reports  which  have  been  published  respecting  this  colony,  it  is  said 
to  be  in  a  prosperous  condition,  and  it  is  expected  that  the  results  of 
this  experiment  will  soon  demonstrate  it  to  be  a  perfect  success. 

The  new  census  of  the  State  of  Nuevo  Leon,  Mexico,  shows 
the  population  to  be:  males,  139,061;  females,  132,926;  total, 
271,987. 


Nicaragua. 


PROPOSED  EXTENSION    OF  RAILROAD    COMMUNICATION    IN  THE 
REPUBLIC  OF  NICARAGUA. 

The  existing  railroad  system  of  Nicaragua  consists  of  two  sepa- 
rate sections.  The  first  commences  at  the  port  of  Corinto  on  the 
Pacific,  and  terminates  at  Momotombo  on  the  northwestern  shore 
of  Lake  Managua.  The  second  commences  at  the  capital,  Man- 
agua, on  the  southern  shore  of  the  lake  of  that  name,  and  termi- 
nates at  Granada,  on  the  northwestern  shore  of  Lake  Nicaragua. 
The  lengths  of  these  two  sections  are  58  and  33  miles  respectively. 

In  conjunction  with  the  steamers  on  Lake  Managua,  and  the 
steamboat  service  from  Granada  to  Greytown  on  the  Atlantic  (via 
the  San  Juan  River),  they  form  a  trunk  line  of  communication 
through  the  country  from  sea  to  sea. 

These  railroads  were  only  completed  throughout  in  1885,  but 
they  had  an  immediate  and  most  gratifying  effect  on  the  commerce 
and  progress  of  the  country.  The  consequence  has  been  a  strong 
and  general  public  feeling  in  favor  of  an  extension  of  the  iron  road, 
a  feeling  which  each  successive  Government  has  been  most  anxious 
to  satisfy  by  giving  encouragement  to  any  reasonable  project  which 
has  been  presented  to  it. 

The  existing  railroad  system  is,  in  fact,  simply  a  trunk  line  pass- 
ing through  the  part  of  the  country  most  thickly  populated  and 
connecting  the  principal  towns.  What  is  required  now  is  the  ex- 
tension of  the  system  by  branches  or  connections  into  those  parts 
of  the  country  already  settled  and  prosperous,  but  where  the  com- 
mon   roads   are  bad  and  insufficient,  and  still  more  into   those 

174 


NICARAGUA.  IJ  ^ 

parts  known  to  be  capable  of  enormous  development,  but  depen- 
dent on  railroad  construction  for  that  development. 

There  are  three  schemes  for  railroads  in  Nicaragua  which  have 
been  sanctioned  by  the  Government. 

(1)  The  Ramiriz  concession  for  the  construction  of  a  road  from 
the  port  of  San  Miguellito  on  the  east  side  of  the  Lake  of  Gran- 
ada to  the  head  waters  of  the  Bluefields  River,  about  60  miles  from 
the  Atlantic,  the  river  itself  being  navigable  for  ocean-going  ves- 
sels of  great  draft,  when  once  over  the  bar,  upon  which  there  is 
now  1 1  feet  of  water,  but  which  will  be  deepened  so  as  to  allow 
the  passing  of  large  steamers  to  the  proposed  terminus  of  the  rail- 
road on  the  river.  The  length  of  this  road  will  be  about  100 
miles,  making  the  entire  distance  from  the  lake  to  the  Atlantic 
100  miles.  The  Government  gives  a  guaranty  of  5  per  cent  on 
$3,000,000  for  thirty  years,  and  also  140,000  acres  of  public 
lands  to  be  taken  along  or  near  the  railroad.  The  promoters 
have  concluded  the  surveys  and  it  is  found  that  there  will  be 
no  serious  difficulties  to  overcome.  It  is  said  that  the  cost  will  not 
much  exceed  $3,000,000,  but  that  with  the  improvement  of  the 
bar,  dredging  of  the  river  inside,  and  building  of  wharves,  the 
outlay  will  reach  $4,000,000. 

(2)  The  Climie  concession  for  a  line  25  miles  long  to  connect 
a  district  known  as  the  Pueblos  with  the  existing  railway  at  the 
town  of  Masaya,  19  miles  from  Managua.  This  is  the  most  pros- 
perous and  best  cultivated  district  in  the  Republic,  producing 
largely  of  coffee  and  sugar.  On  this  concession  the  Government 
guarantees  5  per  cent  on  $500,000  for  twenty-five  years,  and  gives 
45,000  acres  of  land.  The  surveys  have  been  completed  and 
work  will  begin  at  once. 

(3)  The  Strong  and  Thornton  concession  for  a  railroad  from 
Momotombo  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Rio  Grande,  about  120 
miles  from  the  Atlantic.  The  contract  will  be  one  of  far- 
reaching  importance  to  the  Republic,  and  its  terms  and  conditions 


I76  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

are  considered  favorable  to  the  country.  The  total  length  of  this 
railway  will  be  not  less  than  200  miles,  and  will  pass  through  the 
department  of  Matagalpa,  attaining  an  elevation  of  2,000  feet, 
where  the  cultivation  of  coffee  has  been  commenced  within  the' 
last  two  years,  and  with  such  promise  of  success  that  there  is  no 
doubt  it  will  soon  be  one  of  the  largest  coffee-producing  centers 
within  the  five  republics  of  Central  America.  Descending  to- 
ward the  Rio  Grande,  there  are  splendid  lands,  well  watered, 
and  suitable  for  cacao  (chocolate),  while  lower  still  there  are  great 
stretches  of  natural  grass  lands,  and  along  the  valley  of  the  river 
there  are  unlimited  facilities  for  the  cultivation  of  bananas  and 
other  tropical  fruits.  Fine  timber  in  great  quantities  exists  near 
the  sea,  and  in  the  lowlands,  convenient  to  navigable  lagoons,  the 
cocoanut  tree  is  everywhere  to  t>e  found. 

Like  all  the  rivers  of  the  coast,  the  Rio  Grande  has  a  bar  at  its 
mouth,  but  deep  water  within  which  will  admit  of  navigation  for 
large  seagoing  vessels.  It  is  proposed  to  excavate  at  the  bar 
when  vessels  will  be  able  to  go  up  the  river  alongside  of  the 
railway  wharves,  and  load  direct  from  car  to  ship  without  the 
expense  of  transshipment.  The  climate  is  good,  especially  so  on 
the  highlands,  and  with  the  opening  of  this  territory  it  is  believed 
that  immigration  will  turn  in  this  direction,  and  that  soon  the 
country  of  Matagalpa  will  become  the  most  important  of  all 
Nicaragua. 

The  immense  slopes  of  the  Atlantic  have  been  isolated  for  want 
of  roads,  but  these  proposed  improvements  will  change  the  whole 
aspect,  and  soon  Nicaragua  will  be  equally  well  known,  through- 
out its  entire  domain,  as  any  of  the  sister  republics. 

Messrs.  Strong  &  Thornton  ask  no  guaranty  or  subvention  of 
any  kind,  but  the  Government  gives  them  1,250,000  acres  of 
land,  and  this  land  will  be  opened  to  actual  settlement  and  will 
be  laid  out  in  farm  and  ranch  plats,  and  in  coffee  and  sugar  estates, 
so  that  it  will  be  rapidly  developed   into  rich  producing  lands. 


NICARAGUA.  177 

The  contractors  obligate  themselves  to  settle  and  place  the  lands 
under  cultivation  within  twenty  years.  The  climate  is  excellent, 
foreigners  are  respected,  and  the  natural  resources  of  the  country 
are  great. 

A  copy  of  the  concession  granted  by  the  Nicaraguan  Govern- 
ment to  Dr.  Luis  Cruz  for  the  establishment  of  a  complete  tele- 
graphic service  in  Nicaragua  has  been  received.  All  the  material 
for  the  construction  of  the  line  will  be  admitted  free  of  duty,  and 
during  the  continuance  of  the  concession  no  other  similar  privi- 
lege will  be  granted,  except  with  the  canal  company,  and  the 
various  railroad  lines  will  not  be  prohibited  from  employing  pri- 
vate telephones  in  the  regular  course  of  their  own  business.  The 
Government  will  be  furnished,  free  of  expense,  25  instruments, 
with  the  necessary  connections  with  the  central  office  and  all  the 
lines  of  the  company.  Many  other  important  privileges  are  given 
to  the  concessionaire,  who  is  authorized  to  transfer  his  rights  to 
an  operating  company  should  he  so  desire. 

The  Republic  of  Nicaragua  has  authorized  the  sale  of  22,400 
manzanas  (equal  to  40,000  acres)  of  the  most  fertile  public  lands 
in  the  Department  of  New  Segovia,  to  be  used  in  the  cultivation 
of  coffee,  wheat,  sugar  cane,  cocoa,  etc.,  in  quantities  not  exceed- 
ing 30  manzanas,  the  proceeds  of  which  are  to  be  devoted  to  the 
establishment  in  the  city  of  Ocal  of  a  college  to  be  known  as  the 
"  College  of  the  Assumption  of  Mary." 

The  Government  of  Nicaragua  has  reaffirmed  a  decree  of 
March  10,  1865,  donating  to  every  family  of  immigrants  from 
the  United  States  and  other  countries,  settling  in  Nicaragua  with 
the  object  of  becoming  naturalized  citizens,  a  maximum  of  120 
acres  of  unoccupied  land,  according  to  the  number  of  persons  in 
the  family,  and  to  each  able-bodied  single  man  60  acres.  Immi- 
grants thus  settling  are  entitled  to  the  rights  of  naturalized  citi- 
zens, and  will  be  exempt  from  army  service  except  for  the  defense 

Bull.  41 12 


178  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

of  the  integrity  of  the  Republic.  At  the  end  of  ten  years  of 
cultivation  of  the  land,  commencing  from  the  date  of  the  cession, 
and  on  the  completion  of  naturalization,  an  absolute  title  will  be 
given.  Persons  desiring  to  avail  themselves  of  this  concession 
must  bring  papers  from  the  ministers  or  consuls  of  Nicaragua  in 
the  countries  from  which  they  come. 


Paraguay. 


COMMERCE    FOR  1890. 

The  exports  of  Paraguay  for  the  calendar  year  1890  were 
$3,900,729  and  the  imports  were  valued  at  $2,721,433.  The 
total  revenues  of  the  country  for  1889  were  $1,724,588,  of  which 
$986,939  was  collected  from  duties  on  imports  and  $196,489 
were  duties  collected  on  exports. 

The  statistics  for  the  year  1890  of  the  commerce  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Paraguay,  just  received  at  the  Bureau  of  the  American 
Republics,  show  that  the  impoits  amounted  to  $2,725,611.99; 
exports,  $2,901,589;  total,  $5,627,200.99,  from  which  the  follow- 
ing revenue  was  received:  On  imports,  $990,451.18;  exports, 
$193,626.65;  total,  $1,184,077.83. 

The  Republic  of  Paraguay  during  the  year  1890  exported 
35,000,000  oranges,  but  the  selling  price  was  too  small  to  justify 
the  gathering  and  shipping  of  fruit  at  a  distance  of  more  than  3 
miles  from  the  Paraguay  River.  The  orange  crop  for  hundreds 
of  square  miles  was  therefore  allowed  to  rot  upon  the  ground.  An 
attempt  is  being  made  now  to  utilize  the  surplus  of  oranges  in  the 
manufacture  of  liquors,  and  several  distilleries  have  been  set  up 
during  the  last  year,  and  also  establishments  for  the  manufacture 
of  flavoring  extracts  and  perfumes  from  the  flower  and  fruit  of  the 

orange. 

179 


l8o  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

BALANCE  SHEET  OF  THE    GOVERNMENT  FOR  1890. 

ASSETS. 

Cash  in  the  General  Treasury,  December  31,  1890 $287,  236 

Cash  in  the  Treasury  of  Public  Credit,  December  31,  1890 319,  987 

Outstanding  debts,  to  be  collected  by  the  Commission  of  Public  Credit, 

for  sale  of  lands,  yerbales,  paving  rate,  etc 238,  172 

Shares  in  the   railway  from  Asuncion  to  Villa  Rica  (Paraguay  Central 

Railway) 1,  050,  000 

Shares  in  the  Bank  of  Paraguay  and  Rio  de  la  Plata 2,  000,  000 

Shares  in  the  Bolsa  de  Comercio 2,  400 

Payments  on  account  of  the  6  per  cent  guaranty  on  the  Paraguay  Central 

Railway 81,  764 

Capital  of  the  National  Bank  of  Paraguay  on  December  31,  1890 2,  101,  706 

Balance  in  favor  of  the  Commission  of  Public  Credit  in  National  Bank 

of  Paraguay  on  December  31,  1890 297,  916 

Sum  handed  to  the  Commission  of  Inspectors  of  Banks,  to  be  applied  to 

the  redemption  of  the  notes  of  the  National  Bank   10,  032 

Deficit  of  the  Commission  of  Pubiic  Credit 67,  470 

Sundry  debtors 107,  192 

Public  debt,  December  31,.  1890 26,  405,  598 


32,969,471 


LIABILITIES. 

Internal  debt,  December  31,  1890,  as  under: 

Bills  payable $3,  000 

Orders  payable 3,  431 

Balances  payable 54,  213 

Credit  of  30  per  cent  to  the  National  Bank 1,  779 

Bonds  of  internal  debt  emitted: 

First  series.  .  .' 390,  510 

Second  series 3, 650 

Credit  in  the  National  Bank  of  Paraguay 267,  902 


724, 485 

Deposits  on  December  31 194,  934 

External  debt,  December  31,  as  under: 

To  Brazil $8,  960,  183 

Interest  on  same 916,  283 

To  Argentine  Republic 7,  770,  570 

Interest  on  same 1,  793, 420 

Converted  loan  in  London 4,  218,  000 

Loan  from  Argentine  National  Hank 42,  590 

23,  701,  046 


PARAGUAY.  l8l 

liabilities — continued. 

Bonds  emitted  in  conformity  with  the  law  of  April  24,  1890 $2,  500,  000 

Bonds  of  the  Commission  of  Public  Credit 268,  506 

Amount  of  land  warrants  issued  to  foreign  bondholders  retired  by  the 

Commission  of  Public  Credit  and  exchanged  for  fiscal  lands 5,  580,  500 

Total 32,969,471 

Asuncion,  April  27,  1891. 

MARKET    FOR  AMERICAN   GOODS. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  has  received  an  interesting 
letter  from  Guillermo  Harrison,  a  merchant  at  Villa  Rica,  Para- 
guay, who  writes  as  follows : 

It  is  a  great  pity  that  our  manufactures  should  be  shipped  first  to  Europe  and 
from  there  to  South  America,  owing  to  want  of  means  for  transport,  and  once 
they  have  to  come  through  that  route  they  are  no  longer  considered  out  here  as 
being  American  manufactures,  but  as  European,  and  the  importers  here  send 
their  orders  for  those  articles  to  Europe  instead  of  sending  to  the  States. 

I  inclose  a  list  of  articles  which  I  have  ready  markets  for,  but  they  should  be 
of  the  cheapest  possible  manufacture: 

Hats  (felt);  printed  calico;  white  calico;  bleached  calico;  cotton  socks; 
cotton  stockings;  cotton  undershirts;  cotton  white  shirts;  cotton  cuffs  and  col- 
lars; moleskins;  sewing  thread,  hand  and  machine  (spools);  kerosene;  sewing 
machines;  oilcloth;  steel  fencing  wire,  Nos.  8  and  9  ;  "["  hinges  from  6  inches  to 
18  inches  and  screws  to  suit  above;  door  locks;  lamps;  slips  or  tower  bolts,  3 
inches  to  36  inches  ;  thread  for  sewing  bags;  crockery  and  glassware;  account 
paper,  foolscap  size;  foolscap,  plain,  letter  paper;  envelopes;  axes,  squaring  and 
felling;  loaf  sugar;  rice;  cotton  blankets;  cottonrugs;  alpillera  (for  making  bags), 
ordinary  hemp  tweed  (this  article  should  weigh  10^  ounces  to  a  yard  of  40  inches 
width) ;  white  and  colored  handkerchiefs,  pocket  and  larger  size,  imitation  or 
silk;  white  handkerchiefs,  pocket  (cotton) ;  cement;  linseed  oil;  turpentine; 
ink  (writing);  cutlery;  cooking  utensils;  agricultural  implements;  furniture; 
nails,  wrought-iron   and  French;   weighing  machines,  or  scales;   shovels;   hoes. 

INDUSTRIAL  CONDITION  OF  PARAGUAY. 

The  Economiste  Francais  gives  the  following  account  of  the 
present  industrial  condition  of  Paraguay: 

The  progress  accomplished  by  this  Republic  has  of  late  years  been  considerable. 


I 


l82  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

English  capitalists  have  placed  nearly  a  million  pounds  in  this  country,  and  a 
certain  number  of  European  families  have  come  to  settle  there.  Congress  has 
voted  considerable  sums  for  the  improvment  of  the  capital,  the  streets  of 
which,  which  used  to  be  impracticable,  are  now  accessible  to  carriages.  Two 
lines  of  tramway  cross  Asuncion  and  are  open  for  nearly  12  kilometers.  In  the 
interior^  about  1 70  kilometers  of  railway  have  been  open  to  commerce,  and  the 
southeastern  line  now  reaches  Villa  Rica.  A  line  is  projected  to  unite  Encar- 
nacion,  on  the  Parana,  with  the  capital.  It  corresponds  to  a  line  which  is  being 
constructed  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river,  with  Monte  Video  for  its  ter- 
minus. By  means  of  this  railway  Paraguay  will  be  placed  in  more  direct  com- 
munication with  Europe,  and  the  result  can  not  fail  to  be  favorable  to  its  de- 
velopment. There  is  also  talk  of  constructing  a  branch  line  from  Villa  Rica  to 
join  the  system  of  Brazilian  railways,  Santos  being  the  terminus.  Paraguay  be- 
ing thus  placed  in  communication  with  its  neighbors  will  be  able  to  work  all 
those  natural  resources  of  wealth  which  are  wasted  at  present  for  lack  of  means 
of  transport. 

In  the  open  prairies,  which  are  very  numerous,  nothing  has  hitherto  been 
done  except  to  rear  a  race  of  Brazilian  cattle,  small  in  size,  and  not  easy  to 
fatten.  But  for  some  time  past  the  owners  have  been  importing  from  Europe 
the  products  of  a  pure  race,  which  will  sensibly  improve  the  value  of  the  herds. 

Villa  Rica  is  in  course  of  becoming  an  important  town  as  the  head  of  the 
railway  which  penetrates  towards  Brazil.  Land  sells  there  already  at  upwards 
of  \ob.  the  manzana  of  50  square  varas.  Out  of  1 1 7  trading  houses  36  are  French, 
with  a  capital  valued  at  1,000,000/^.  In  the  neighborhood  of  this  town  the 
Anglo-Paraguayan  Company  has  bought  vast  landed  property,  in  order  to  settle 
an  agricultural  colony  there. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  Paraguay  is  a  great  field  in  the  future  for  small 
farms.  But,  for  the  moment,  the  land  has  been  seized  by  great  companies, 
which  do  not  permit  it  to  be  divided  up  or  farmed  unless  the  value  can  thereby 
be  greatly  increased.  At  the  present  time  a  league  of  good  land  costs  1,000^. 
The  Government,  in  order  to  encourage  emigration,  offers  a  free  passage  to  the 
families  of  agriculturists,  and  has  in  preparation  a  law  for  the  completion  of  the 
system  of  protection  and  help  to  be  given  to  foreign  labor.  The  Argentine 
crisis  has  affected  the  banks  and  mercantile  houses  of  Paraguay,  and  under  the 
influence  of  the  withdrawals  of  minted  money  by  the  Argentines,  paper  money 
has  suffered  a  certain  depreciation.  But,  from  the  general  point  of  view,  this 
crisis  is  reallv  a  benefit  to  the  country,  for  the  Buenos  Ayres  speculators  had 
begun  to  buy  in  the  hope  of  an  immediate  rise  great  quantities  of  land  and 
would  certainly  have  led  Paraguay  along  the  same  disastrous  route  in  which  they 
have  themselves  been    ruined.      Evidently  the  withdrawal  of  capital  which   the 


PARAGUAY. 


•83 


crisis  in  the  Argentine  has  brought  about  will  for  some  time  check  the  develop- 
ment of  Paraguay,  but  the  danger  of  a  temporary  relaxation  of  the  rate  of  prog- 
gress  has  nothing  in  it  to  alarm  the  friends  of  this  young  and  vigorous  nation. 


RAILROADS. 


One  hundred  kilometers  of  the  Paraguay  Central  Railway,  from 
Villa  Rica  to  Yuti,  was  opened  to  the  public  on  the  9th  of  August, 
and  the  inauguration  of  business  was  attended  with  great  ceremony. 

The  Congress  of  Paraguay  has  approved  the  project  for  the 
construction  of  a  railway,  to  be  known  as  the  Asuncion  and  Santos 
Railway,  and  has  authorized  a  contract  to  be  entered  into  with 
the  Viscount  de  Abert,  who  has  already  obtained  a  like  conces- 
sion from  the  Government  of  Brazil  for  that  portion  of  the  road 
to  be  constructed  within  Brazilian  territory.  This  is  one  of  the 
most  important  projects  now  contemplated  in  South  America,  and 
will  be  the  means  of  opening  direct  communication  by  rail  from 
the  sea  at  Santos,  Brazil,  to  Asuncion,  the  capital  of  Paraguay, 
thus  saving  thousands  of  miles  in  both  sea  and  river  transporta- 
tion, and  shortening  the  time  between  Paraguay  and  the  United 
States  from  twelve  to  ten  days.  The  road  will  run  almost  due 
west,  on  the  twenty-fifth  parallel  of  south  latitude  from  Asuncion 
in  Paraguay,  to  Curitiba,  Brazil,  525  miles,  and  then  in  a  south- 
easterly direction  110  miles  to  Santos,  where  is  one  of  the  finest 
harbors  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  from  which  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  the  entire  coffee  crop  of  Brazil  is  now  exported. 

A  contract  has  been  entered  into  between  the  Government  of 
Paraguay  and  Mr.  Manuel  Obert  de  Thiensios  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  railway  from  Asuncion  to  the  Brazilian  frontier,  with 
necessary  branches.  This  road  is  to  be  built  and  opened  to  pub- 
lic traffic  within  four  years.  The  Government  guaranties  the  pay- 
ment of  6  per  cent  interest  on  $30,000  for  each  kilogram  of  the 
road,  and  the  company  will  have  the  right  to  occupy  land  for  sta- 
tions, track,  beds,  etc.,  may  use  the  necessary  timber,  stone,  etc., 
for  construction  purposes,  may  establish  colonies  on  public  lands, 


184  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

and  may  work  any  mines  which  may  be  discovered.  The  colon- 
ists settling  on  the  lands  of  the  company  will  be  exempt  from  all 
direct  taxation  for  ten  years,  and  will  be  permitted  to  import  their 
agricultural  and  household  supplies  of  every  description  for  the 
same  period.  The  company  is  also  granted  the  right  to  import 
all  the  necessary  machinery,  cars,  and  other  supplies  free  of  duty. 
This  road  is  intended  to  be  a  part  of  a  transcontinental  railway 
from  Asuncion  to  Santos  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  will  pass 
through  the  towns  of  Enboscada,  Arroyos,  San  Estanislao,  and 
Villa  Igatimi. 


eru 


PETROLEUM  DEVELOPMENT  IN  PERU. 

The  London  and  Pacific  Petroleum  Company,  an  English  corpo- 
ration whose  works  are  at  Talara,  in  the  north  of  Peru,  have  erected 
at  Callao  large  tanks  for  the  reception  of  refined  lubricating  oil, 
benzine,  and  other  manufactures  of  petroleum.  They  have  also 
erected  large  tanks  for  holding  the  refuse  of  the  petroleum,  which 
is  carried  there  in  tank  steamers.  This  refuse  is  used  exclusively 
as  fuel  on  board  some  of  the  coast  steamers,  and  it  is  also  supplied 
to  the  Central  Peruvian  Railroad  Company  for  use  on  their  loco- 
motives. The  experiment  of  using  petroleum  for  fuel  on  railways 
has  been  successful,  and  several  private  factories  are  making  ar- 
rangements to  adopt  it  in  lieu  of  coal%  being  much  cheaper. 

A  company  under  the  title  of  the  Mancora  (Peru)  Petroleum 
Syndicate  has  been  organized  in  London  with  a  capital  of 
;£  120,000,  the  object  of  which  is  to  purchase  and  develop  the 
petroleum  wells  at  Mancora,  extending  along  the  coast  of  Peru 
from  Talara  to  Tumbez.  This  is  the  third  petroleum  company 
that  has  been  organized  in  London  within  the  last  year  for  work 
in  Peru. 

Recent  advices  from  Peru  report  the  completion  of  large  stor- 
age tanks  at  Callao  for  the  finer  qualities  of  lubricating  oil,  ben- 
zine, and  other  manufactures  of  petroleum  now  being  produced 
in  that  country.  Large  tanks  have  been  erected  for  storing  the 
refuse  of  the  petroleum  which  is  now  being  used  exclusively  as 
fuel  on  the  coasting  steamers  and  is  coming  into  use  also  upon  the 

185 


l86  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

railways:  Several  manufacturing  establishments  at  Lima  are  now- 
arranging  to  introduce  petroleum  as  fuel  instead  of  coal.  Three 
years  ago  Peru  imported  all  her  petroleum  from  the  United  States. 

Reports  are  received  by  the  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics 
to  the  effect  that  the  experiment  of  using  petroleum  for  fuel  on 
the  Oroya  Railway  in  Peru  has  proven  successful.  The  trials 
were  made  at  an  altitude  of  5,800  feet  above  the  sea  with  two 
locomotives  from  the  Rogers  Works,  of  Paterson,  N.  J.  The 
oil  used  is  not  "crude"  petroleum,  but  a  residuum  oil  with  a  fire 
test  of  about  3000  F.  In  the  trials  the  average  consumption  of 
oil  was  38.55  pounds  per  mile,  while  with  coal  it  was  79.30 
pounds.  It  is  reported  that  the  Oroya  Railway  Company  have 
decided  to  adopt  oil  fuel  on  all  their  locomotives. 

Of  the  industries  established  in  Peru  petroleum  is  prominent 
for  its  progress  and  promises  to  become  of  great  significance.  No 
less  than  516  new  petroleum  claims  have  been  registered  in  the 
past  year.     The  exports  from  Zorritos  were  as  follows : 

1890.  1889. 

Crude  petroleum pounds...     5,124,903  4,744,882 

Kerosene do.  ...     2,  644,  150  2,  204,  346 

Lubricating  (clear)  oil do ...  .     2,  460,  045  1 ,  009,  447 

The  exports  from  the  new  works  at  Talara  consisted,  in  crude 
petroleum  in  tanks,  1,100  tons;  kerosene  in  cases,  46,589;  lubri- 
cating fine  oil  in  barrels,  about  4,000. 

REGULATIONS  FOR  CONSULAR  INVOICES. 

The  Government  of  Peru  has  issued  the  following  new  regu- 
lations concerning  the  making  out  of  consular  invoices: 

First.  If  the  goods  shipped  belong  to  the  class  of  carpets,  damasks,  cloths, 
plush,  etc.,  made  of  cotton,  wool,  linen,  or  silk,  the  material  with  which  such 
articles  are  manufactured  must  be  expressed  in  the  invoice,  and  also  the  length 
in  meters  of  the  pieces  contained  in  each  package. 

Second.  If  the  goods  are  shawls,  ties,  shirts,  handkerchiefs,  or  other  wearing 
apparel,  the  material  of  which  they  are  made  must  be  expressed,  and  also  the 
number  of  dozens  of  the  quantities  in  each  package. 


PERU.  187 

Third.  In  the  case  of  fancy  articles,  such  as  fans  and  parasols,  and  also  in 
the  case  of  perfumery,  the  number  of  dozens  of  each  must  be  expressed,  and  the 
quality  of  the  goods. 

Fourth.  In  the  case  of  paints,  oil,  etc.,  the  quality  and  class  must  be  expressed, 
and  the  weight  of  each  drum,  keg,  barrel,  or  tin  given. 

Fifth.  Nails,  screws,  and  the  like,  are  to  be  entered  according  to  weight  of 
each  package,  stating  their  quality. 

Sixth.  Needles,  pins,  hooks,  etc.,  curtain  and  picture  nails,  must  be  entered  per 
number  of  grosses,  and  their  quality  described. 

Seventh.  Furniture,  with  the  exception  of  billiard  tables  and  pianos,  must  be 
fully  described  as  to  material  of  manufacture,  and  the  number  of  pieces  of  furni- 
ture contained  in  each  package  given. 

Eighth.  In  the  case  of  machinery  of  any  kind,  where  several  parts  constituting 
one  whole  are  packed  into  different  packages,  it  is  not  necessary  to  give  the  con- 
tents of  each,  but  simply  to  state  the  number  of  parts  of  the  machine  contained 
in  each  package,  with  the  gross  weight  of  each  package,  and  the  value  of  the 
whole  invoice.  But  when  the  several  different  machines,  or  tools,  or  utensils, 
are  packed  into  one  case,  then  the  contents  must  be  detailed,  and  the  value  or 
each  package  given. 

Ninth.  In  all  cases  the  weight  in  kilograms  and  value  of  each  package  must  be 
declared  on  the  invoice. 

Tenth.  It  is  recommended  that  shippers  be  careful  to  detail,  as  far  as  possible, 
the  goods  invoiced. 

A  merchant  in  the  interior  of  Peru,  who  ships  and  receives  his 
goods  at  Payta,  in  the  northern  part  of  that  Republic,  calls  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  rate  of  freight  from  New  York  to  Paita  is 
$28  gold  per  ton  of  2,240  pounds,  while  that  from  Liverpool 
to  Payta  is  $20  per  ton  of  2,240  pounds.  That,  he  says,  is  the 
principal  reason  why  the  merchants  do  not  buy  their  goods  in  the 
United  States. 

Peru  has  reimposed  the  duties  on  wheat  and  rice  which  were 
remitted  by  decree  of  the  4th  of  April  last. 

A  specific  duty  of  1 1  cents  a  kilogram  (2.20  pounds)  has  been 
imposed  on  all  lard  imported  into  the  Republic  of  Peru.  It  has 
been  decreed  that  all  packages  shipped,  discharged,  or  reembarked 
at  ports  of  the  Republic  shall  be  marked  with  the  gross  weight. 


1  88  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Cases,  barrels,  and  crates  must  also  be  marked  with  the  measure- 
ment of  their  three  dimensions  according  to  the  metric  system, 
and  fines  are  imposed  for  noncompliance  with  this  law. 

ENGLISH  COMPANIES. 

During  the  last  three  years  the  progress  of  Peru  has  been  very 
marked,  and  a  great  deal  of  English  capital  has  gone  into  that 
country  for  investment.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  companies 
organized  with  English  capital  for  the  development  of  Peru 
during  the  last  three  years : 

Central  Railway  of  Peru £2,  500,  000 

Pacasmayo  Railway 200.  000 

Trujillo  Railway 500,  000 

Mollendo  to  Bolivia  Railway 2,  600,  000 

Montes  Claros  Gold  Mines 80,  000 

Scott  Gold  Mines,  Macate 160,  000 

Montero  and  Rey  Gold  Mines,  Macate  (capital  unknown). 

Caylloma  Mining  Company 250,  000 

Talara  Petroleum  Company 25,  000 

Sechura  Petroleum  Syndicate  (capital  unknown). 

Boca  Pan  Petroleum  Syndicate,  Tumbes 20,  000 

Mancora  Petroleum  Syndicate 12,  000 

La  Cruz  Petroleum  Syndicate 12,  000 

Lima  Brewery  Company no,  000 

Vitarte  Cotton  Factory 134,  000 

Irrigation  Syndicate,  London 500,  000 

Exploration  Syndicate,  London 50,  000 

Maravillas  Smelting  Works,  Puno 20,  000 

Casapalca  Smelting  Works,  Oroya  (capital  unknown). 

Piura  and  Catacaos  Railway 20,  000 

Italian  Mining  Company,  Gasuno  S 400,  000 

Chilean  Mining  Company,  Cachara 750,  000 

A  copy  of  the  report  presented  to  the  Congress  of  Peru  by  the 
minister  of  finance  and  trade  of  that  Republic  has  been  received, 
which  shows  a  material  improvement  in  its  commerce  during  the 
year  1890.  The  revenue  derived  from  customs  duties  amounted 
in  1890  to  $5,698,906.38  against  $4,748,790.32  in  1889,  and 
$4,361,304.37  in  1888.  * 

The  imports  of  foreign  goods  into   Peru  for  the  fourth  quarter 


PERU.  189 

ending  1890,  amounted  to  $3,025,029.70;  the  exports  from  Peru 
were  during  that  period  $2,950,785.37.  A  third  of  these  imports, 
$1,097,500,  came  from  England,  which  country  took  considerably 
more  than  half  the  exports,  viz,  $1,643,062;  Germany  comes 
next,  the  imports  from  which  country  were  $554,930,  and  the  ex- 
ports to  it  were  $209,195;  France  is  next,  the  imports  from  which 
were  $425,868,  and  the  exports  to  it  were  $209,195;  then  follow 
the  United  States,  Chile,  China,  etc.  These  values  are  in  Peru- 
vian currency. 

The  receipts  for  duties  at  the  custom-house  of  Callao,  Peru, 
for  the  year  1890,  were  4,267,376  soles,  or  a  little  more  than 
$4,000,000. 

The  population  of  Callao,  according  to  a  census  recently  taken, 
is  26,805  inhabitants. 

Interesting  information  from  official  sources  concerning  the  con- 
dition of  the  internal  debt  of  Peru  up  to  May  31  has  been  re- 
ceived. The  issue  authorized  by  Congress  in  1888  was  $38,000,000, 
of  which  amount  $32,000,000  bears  interest  at  1  per  cent,  the  re- 
mainder bearing  no  interest,  but  being  admissible  at  the  periodical 
amortizations.  The  amortizations,  beginning  in  December,  1889, 
have  been  six  in  number ;  $6,788,382  of  the  debt  has  been  can- 
celed, $25,846,417  of  the  amount  still  due  bearing  interest.  The 
interest  and  sinking  fund  are  supplied  from  the  alcohol  duties,  which 
are  paid  monthly  by  collectors  direct  to  the  public  debt  committee 
at  the  rate  of  $35,437  a  month,  or  $425,245  a  year.  In  addition 
to  this  amount  5  per  cent  of  the  customs  receipts  are  handed  over 
monthly  to  the  same  committee,  making  the  total  amount  of  the 
fund  for  the  service  of  the  debt  $64 1 ,245.  The  funds  at  present  in 
hand  are  $233,592.  After  paying  interest  the  amount  of  thus  left 
for  the  sinking  fund  is  nearly  $400,000  annually,  which  ought  to 
insure  a  continuance  of  the  quarterly  amortizations  and  a  rise  in 
the  value  of  the  bonds.  The  prices  at  the  last  amortization  on 
May  31  ranged  from  $7.50  to  $8.50,  and  debt  to  the  nominal 
value  of  $1,381,962  was  bought  in  by  the  Government. 


]90  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION.   . 

The  produce  of  the  alcohol  tax,  which  was  instituted  for  the 
purpose  of  paying  off  the  internal  debt,  is  steadily  increasing,  and 
its  collection  is  put  up  at  public  auction  annually. 

Mr.  P.  W.  G.  Clarke,  superintendent  of  the  botanical  gardens 
of  Ceylon,  has  undertaken  the  exploration  of  the  eastern  slopes  of 
the  Andes,  accompanied  by  Mr.  J.  L.  Shand,  of  London,  with  the 
object  of  establishing  coffee  plantations.  A  syndicate  for  this  pur- 
pose was  recently  organized  in  London,  and  it  is  claimed  that  the 
slopes  of  the  Andes  in  Peru  offer  very  great  advantages  over  the 
East  India  Islands  for  the  cultivation  of  coffee.  One  chief  advan- 
tage is  that  the  plant  in  Peru  is  not  affected  by  insects  and  diseases, 
which  cause  great  risk  in  Java  and  Ceylon. 

MINING  IN  PERU. 

Lord  Donoughmore  says  : 

Taking  Peru  and  Bolivia  conjointly  there  is  scarcely  a  known  mineral  they 
do  not  produce,  and  it  has  been  proved  that  in  the  higher  minerals,  such  as 
gold,  silver,  and  copper,  the  average  quality  of  the  ore  is  far  superior  to  any 
that  is  now  being  worked  at  a  profit  in  California  and  other  countries.  In  the 
valley  of  Pallasca,  in  the  Province  of  Anchacs  (Peru),  there  are  gold  deposits 
which  are  now  being  successfully  worked,  and  of  which  the  output  would  be 
greatly  increased  by  further  facilities  for  communication  with  the  coast.  North 
of  Lake  Titicaca,  on  the  borders  of  Peru  and  Bolivia,  extensive  gold  washings 
are  now  going  on;  among  others,  in  the  district  of  Suches,  where  gold-bearing 
clay  is  found  over  2,000  acres  in  extent.  There  is  also  gold  in  large  quantities 
at  Oruro,  in  Bolivia,  while  along  the  route  of  the  Southern  Railway,  the  Cay- 
lloma  silver  mines  are  springing  into  prominence  and  other  valuable  mines  are 
being  inspected  and  opened  up.  Extensive  gold  fields  exist  in  the  Provinces  of 
Sandia  and  Carabaya  in  the  south  and  near  the  Maranon  in  the  north.  On 
the  Central  Railway  the  Yauli  district  is  full  of  silver  mines,  which  will  come 
into  work  as  soon  as  the  line  reaches  them.  Iron  and  coal  exist  there  also. 
Copper  is  found  in  Castro  Vireyna,  Peru,  and  the  deposit  of  the  metal  in  the 
Corocoro  district  of  Bolivia  is,  perhaps,  the  richest  that  exists  in  the  world. 
The  cinnabar  mines  of  Huancavelica  have  just  been  taken  in  hand  again,  and  I 
hope  that  they  may  shortly  be  producing. 


PERU.  I9I 

NEW  BRITISH    STEAMERS  FOR    SOUTH  AMERICAN  TRADE. 

Mr.  John  Hicks,  United  States  minister  at  Lima,  Peru,  writes 
the  Department  of  State,  saying : 

Whether  it  is  in  anticipation  of  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  American  mer- 
chants to  gain  a  foothold  in  South  American  ports,  or  to  prepare  for  the  prob- 
able increase  of  business  during  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  in  Chicago, 
I  am  unable  to  say,  but  it  is  certain  that  there  is  an  unusual  activity  on  the  part 
of  the  English  shipbuilders  and  shipowners  connected  with  the  South  American 
trade,  and  more  than  a  dozen  new  steamships  are  in  coure  of  erection  and  will 
be  put  in  service  on  the  lines  between  England  and  Peru  within  the  coming  year. 
The  Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Company,  which  was  organized  by  an  American, 
William  Wheelwright,  of  Massachusetts,  has  a  regular  line  from  Liverpool  to 
Valparaiso  and  then  from  Valparaiso  to  Panama.  These  steamers  carry  both 
freight  and  passengers  and  stop  at  almost  every  port,  large  or  small,  between 
Panama  and  Cape  Horn,  making  weekly  and  semiweekly  trips  along  the  whole 
coast.  The  steamers  of  this  line  are  generally  large,  well  managed,  and  adapted 
to  the  trade.  In  January,  1890,  the  company  brought  out  two  new  ones,  the 
Santiago  and  Arequipa,  costing  about  ^£200,000  each,  the  finest  ships  seen  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  north  or  south.  Now  it  is  reported  that  the  company  has  on  the 
stocks  at  Belfast  two  additional  steamers,  which  will  be  ready  for  service  by 
March,  1892,  and  will  be  at  once  added  to  the  already  large  fleet  in  these  waters. 
The  new  steamers  are  said  to  exceed  in  size,  capacity,  speed,  and  accommoda- 
tions any  of  the  other  ships  of  the  company,  and  will  be  models  of  beauty,  swift- 
ness, and  strength.  They  will  be  460  feet  long,  49  feet  wide,  34  feet  high,  and 
with  a  capacity  of  5,700  tons.  Evidently  the  company  intends  to  be  prepared 
for  any  opposition..  The  Peruvian  consul-general  at  Liverpool  informs  his  Gov- 
ernment that  an  entirely  new  line  of  English  steamers  will  commence  operations 
on  the  1st  of  December,  1891,  between  Liverpool  and  Peruvian  ports.  These 
steamers  will  be  thirteen  in  number  and  will  make  monthly  trips.  It  will  be 
seen  that  this  will  make  the  fourth  independent  English  line  in  the  carrying 
trade  between  Liverpool  and  Peru.  Besides  these  there  are  two  German  lines, 
a  French  line,  and  many  other  steamers  which  make  irregular  trips  between 
European  ports  and  the  west  coast  of  South  America. 

The  Peruvian  Corporation  have  been  actively  at  work  in  the 
selection  of  lands  for  colonization  on  the  2,000,000  hectares 
granted  under  the  decree  of  January,  1890.  A  party  of  Spanish 
engineers  have  selected  the  region  of  the  rivers  Puinas,  Huayos, 


19^  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

and  Perene,  where  they  expect  to  establish  some  400  or  more  fam- 
ilies to  devote  themselves  to  agricultural  pursuits.  An  English 
commission  is  now  making  careful  examinations  for  the  purpose 
of  choosing  sites  for  large  plantations  of  coffee,  cocoa,  and  other 
tropical  products,  to  be  carried  on  by  colonists  from  Great  Britain 
or  some  of  its  dependencies.  Already  a  number  of  Englishmen 
have  signified  their  intention  to  locate  in  Peru  under  the  auspices 
of  the  corporation. 

The  Bureau  of  American  Republics  is  informed  that  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Peru  has  paid  $7,000  to  Mr.  Anibal  Villegas,  the 
Peruvian  minister  to  Germany,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  pas- 
sage and  traveling  expenses  of  15  German  families  from  Hamburg 
to  Iquitos,  where  they  wTill  proceed  to  establish  a  colony  on  the 
Amazon  River.  The  Peruvian  Congress  has  also  voted  $20,000 
to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  immigration  and  settlement  of  30  addi- 
tional German  families  in  the  same  locality,  which  Mr.  Carlos 
Romer  is  about  to  bring  from  Hamburg. 

The  returns  of  the  late  census  of  the  city  of  Lima,  Peru,  show 
that  its  total  population  is  103,956,  of  which  49,350  were  males, 
and  54, 1 06  females ;  70,96 1  can  read,  and  32,995  can  neither  read 
nor  write.  There  has  been  a  singular  reversing  in  the  preponder- 
ance of  the  sexes  since  the  last  census,  which  was  taken  in  1876. 
At  that  time  the  males  exceeded  the  females  by  4,422,  while,  accord- 
ing to  the  present  census,  the  females  now  outnumber  the  males  by 

5*744- 

THE  HIGHEST  INHABITED  PLACE  IN  THE  WORLD. 

It  has  long  been  supposed  that  Galera,  a  village  in  Peru,  15,635 
feet  above  the  sea,  was  the  highest  inhabited  place  in  the  world, 
but  Mr.  Arthur  E.  Pearce,  an  engineer  who  has  been  prospecting 
and  making  meteorological  observations  in  the  Andes,  has  dis- 
covered two  mining  camps  that  are  even  higher;  these  are  Vich- 
arrayac,  15,950  feet,  and  Muscapata,  16,158  feet  and  more  above 


PERU.  193 

sea  level,  each  with  a  population  of  miners  averaging  200  the  year 
round.  High  as  some  of  the  points  are  on  the  famous  Oroya 
Railroad  of  Peru,  of  which  the  Galera  is  the  summit,  that  road 
will  be  surpassed  in  altitude  by  a  narrow-gauge  railroad  now  under 
construction  to  connect  with  it.  This,  when  completed,  will  have 
a  length  of  75  kilometers,  and  a  mean  altitude  of  1 5,850  feet. 

In  one  of  the  mines  on  this  railroad  a  tunnel  is  being  driven  at 
a  higher  elevation  than  Galera,  which,  when  completed,  will  be 
fully  as  long  if  not  longer  than  that  tunnel.  The  work  is  being 
done  by  means  of  compressed  air,  and  the  tunnel  is  lighted 
throughout  by  electricity.  To  facilitate  work  the  mining  camps 
are  connected  by  telephone  lines  passing  over  two  summits  of 
more  than  17,000  feet  each.  The  mean  height  of  the  lines  being 
over  16,000  feet. 

The  Government  of  Peru  has  issued  a  supreme  decree  declar- 
ing that  religious  feast  days  shall  no  longer  interfere  with  the 
loading  and  unloading  and  the  dispatch  of  vessels  in  the  harbors 
of  the  Republic.  The  sailing  schedules  of  the  steamships  were 
interfered  with  by  the  frequency  of  feast  days,  on  which  the  cus- 
tom-houses were  closed  and  the  roustabouts  refused  to  work. 

The  Government  of  Peru  has  employed  Mons.  Jules  Parret, 
of  Paris,  to  continue  the  work  left  unfinished  by  the  late  Prof. 
Ramondi,  the  famous  archaeologist  and  mineralogist  of  that 
Republic.  Prof.  Ramondi,  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1890,  had 
been  engaged  for  over  forty  years  in  preparing  an  elaborate  work 
on  the  topography  and  mineralogy  of  Peru.  Several  volumes 
giving  the  results  of  his  researches  have  already  been  published, 
and  Mons.  Parret  will  proceed  to  prepare  the  remainder  of  his 
notes  for  the  press. 
Bull.  41 13 


Salvador. 


COMMERCIAL  RETURNS  FOR  THE  YEAR  1890. 

The  official  returns  of  the  commerce  of  Salvador  for  the  last 
year  (1-890)  show  that  the  imports  were  $2,405,201,  and  the  ex- 
ports $7,578,733.  The  custom-house  receipts  were  $2,612,226 
and  the  total  revenues  of  the  Government  $4,151,457.  The 
following  statement  shows  the  imports  and  exports  of  Salvador 
annually,  from  1885  to  ^90,  inclusive. 


Year. 


1885 
1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 


Imports. 


Dollars. 
2,  134,  O94.  78 

2,  427,  643.  4S 

3,  379,  661.  13 
4,081,547.29 
2,  872,  803.  35 
2,  405,  201.  62 


Exports. 


Dollars. 
5,  716,428.  38 

4,  754,  648.  53 

5.  549,  392.  21 
6,757.605.59 
5,  488,  909.  96 
7.  578,  733-  84 


The  public  debt  of  Salvador  on  the  1st  of  January,  1891,  was 
$5,427,199.  The  receipts  from  taxation  for  the  year  1890  were 
as  follows  : 

Custom-house  receipts $2,  612,  226.  97 

Liquor I,  241,  814.  38 

Stamped  paper 44-  °97-  71 

Powder  and  saltpeter 23,  661.  45 

Rents  (del  Tajo) 30.  878.  34 

Various 201,  578.  63 

Total 4.  153.  457.  48 

I'M 


SALVADOR. 

The  expenditures  for  the  year  1890  were  as  follows : 

Charities $158,  338.  47 

Public  works 371,  790.  70 

Government 406,  988.  87 

War *2,  753,  161.  41 

Finance 341,  954.  36 

Public  instruction 225.  519.  62 

Justice .». 153,  465.  72 

Foreign  relations 90,  045.  59 

Public  credit,  payment  of  national  debt,  etc 941,  050.  09 

Total 5,  442,  314.  83 


195 


The  imports  by  articles  for  the  year  were  as  follows : 


Packages. 


Cotton  goods 

Linens  

Woolens 

Silks 

Mixed  goods 

Flour 

Liquors,  wines,  and  beer 
Earthen  and  glassware. . . 
Drugs  and  perfumery  .  . . 

Ironware 

Machinery 

Hats 

Small  wares 

Provisions 

Jewelry 

Printed  books 

Coin 

Furniture  and  woods. .  . . 
Other  articles 

Total 


14,457 
222 
480 

237 

112 

62,  702 

37,253 

6,  420 

8,619 

21,  227 

4,  020 

214 

1,  024 

13,659 

37 

52 

107 

12,658 

72,  141 


255,58i 


Weight. 


Kilos. 

1,756,554 

13,  9°3 

31,  406 

5,886 

8,055 

3,  37o,  478 

1,  211,  161 

364,  841 
214,  898 

961,  143 

302,  886 

7,979 

52,085 

385,  99i 

840 

3,on 

934 

171,589 

3,  060,  190 


10,  872,  840 


Value. 


Dollars. 

866,  899 

14,  290 

33,  776 

43,  330 

8,981 

169,  296 

167,081 
38,490 
70,509 

119,  602 

39,  279 
29,  526 
18,317 
56,  816 

i,359 

3,204 

191,  986 

40,  157 
488,  422 


2,401,  314 


*War  with  Guatemala. 


10  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

The  exports  by  articles  for  the  year  were  as  follows : 


Packages. 


Weight. 


Value. 


Indigo 

Sugar  

Bal  sam 

Coffee 

Hides 

Rubber 

Sugar,  mascobado 

Woods 

Silver  bruto  (ores) 

Coin 

Tobacco,  leaf 

Tobacco,  manufactured 
Other  articles 

Total 


Kilos. 


8,345 

703,  310 

28,  574 

1,883,942 

462 

13, 135 

53,  909 

8,781,060 

6,025 

85,  349 

178 

27,  929 

45 

1,568 

2,635 

1,  797,  200 

159 

6,925 

616 

35,213 

5,733 

708,  474 

i,542 

88,  103 

n,355 

244, 928 

Dollars. 
1,053,352 
290,155 

35,  783 
4,  268,  749 

19,  774 
15,  507 

698 
24,  700 

20,  447 
1.352,949 

86,  066 
122,  933 
288,  280 


219,  580 


14,  377,  204 


7,  578,  733 


The  population  of  Salvador  by  the  last  census  was  664,513 
people,  which  show  70  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile  and  demon- 
strates Salvador  to  be  the  most  thickly  populated  country  on  the 
American  hemisphere.  The  population  of  New  York  State  is  100 
to  the  square  mile. 

The  official  reports  of  the  receipts  and  expenses  of  the  Republic 
of  Salvador  recently  received  by  the  Bureau  of  the  American  Re- 
publics give  the  following  interesting  figures  for  the  first  half  of 
the  year  1891:  Receipts,  $3,660,574.07;  expenditures,  $3,587,- 
666.89.  The  Prmcipal  sources  of  revenue  were :  General  Treas- 
ury, $813,070.52;  custom  receipts  at  La  Libertad,  $783,759.89; 
at  Sonsonate,  $875,730.31  ;  at  La  Union,  $290,333.96. 

Exporters  of  goods  from  the  United  States  and  other  foreign 
countries  to  Salvador  are  officially  notified  by  the  Bureau  of  the 
American  Republics  that  invoices  of  goods  destined  for  that 
country  must  distinctly  name  each  article  which  has  a  different 
wholesale  price.  The  custom-house  authorities  are  instructed 
either  to  suspend  the  registry  of  the  invoice  or  to  exact  an  extra 
charge  of  10  per  cent  on  the  appraisement  of  the  goods  that  are 
not  properly  specified  in  the  invoice. 


SALVADOR. 


197 


The  Government  of  Salvador  has  issued  a  decree  making  it 
imperative  on  the  part  of  exporters  to  describe  separately  in  the 
consular  invoices  articles  of  a  similar  character,  but  of  different 
quality,  in  the  same  consignment. 

Official  reports  have  been  received  giving  the  custom-house 
receipts  of  the  Republic  of  Salvador  for  the  first  half  of  1891 
compared  with  the  similar  period  of  1890.  The  receipts  of  the 
different. ports  were: 


1891.                                                        1890. 

■ 

Imports. 

Exports.                   Imports. 

Exports. 

La  Libertad 

$715,172.48 
670,  934.  19 
257,276.95 

$67,  331,  43 

204,  495.  OO 

32,  768.  79 

$515,778.28 
519,323.38 
209,  316.  44 

$50,  299.  94 

132,419.27 

22,  384-  57 

Sonsonate 

La  Union 

The  increase  of  imports  was  $398,966;  exports,  $99,491,  and  of 
the  total  foreign  commerce,  $498,457. 

Statistics  of  the  mining  industry  recently  received  at  the  Bureau 
of  the  American  Republics  show  that  there  are  180  mines  of  all 
kinds  in  )peration  in  the  Republic  of  Salvador,  2  of  gold,  20  of 
silver,  and  100  where  the  gold  and  silver  are  combined  in  the  same 
ore. 

The  Government  of  Salvador  has  granted  a  concession  to  Paul 
Orellana  and  Manuel  Trigueras  to  build  a  railroad  from  San  Sal- 
vador to  Santa  Tocla,  with  a  branch  line  to  the  center  of  each 
town,  work  to  be  completed  in  two  years.  The  Government  has 
also  authorized  a  contract  for  building  a  State  line  between  Santa 
Ana  and  Atoos,  connecting  with  the  line  already  in  operation. 

The  Government  of  Salvador  has  entered  into  a  contract  with 
the  Kosmos  Steamship  Line,  of  Hamburg,  Germany,  for  the 
establishment  of  communication  between  the  ports  of  that  Re- 
public and  Europe.  Salvador  pays  the  steamship  company  a 
liberal  subsidy  similar  to  that  paid  by  Guatemala  for  a  monthly 


service. 


I98  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

A  convention  has  been  concluded  between  the  Governments  of 
Honduras  and  Salvador  for  the  establishment  of  telephonic  com- 
munication between  Tegucigalpa  and  San  Salvador,  the  capitals 
of  the  two  nations.  Each  government  has  bound  itself  to  build 
at  its  own  cost  the  section  of  the  line  between  its  capital  and  the 
town  of  Saco  on  the  frontier,  where  both  sections  will  join.  Proper 
rules  providing  for  the  uniformity  of  service  all  along  the  line  have 
been  promulgated. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  is  informed  that  the 
Congress  of  Salvador  has  issued  a  concession  to  Philip  Marques 
for  the  establishment  of  a  bank  to  be  called  the  Bank  of  Central 
America,  with  a  capital  of  $3,000,000,  divided  into  shares  of  $  1 ,000 
each.  The  bank  is  authorized  to  receive  deposits,  discount  notes, 
buy  and  sell  bills  of  exchange,  make  loans  on  mortgages,  and  deal 
in  every  kind  of  financial  operations.  It  is  authorized  to  issue  notes 
for  double  the  amount  of  capital  subscribed,  but  is  required  to  keep 
a  reserve  in  specie  amounting  to  40  per  cent  of  its  circulation. 

The  Salvadorean  Government  has  entered  into  a  contract  with 
Signors  Tiranni  and  Felie  for  the  erection  of  a  monument  on  one 
of  the  public  squares  of  San  Salvador  commemorative  of  the  he- 
roic Salvadoreans  who  have  fallen  in  the  defense  of  their  country. 
The  monument  will  consist  of  a  base  of  the  stone  of  the  country, 
on  which  is  to  rest  a  column  of  marble  on  whose  sides  will  be  en- 
graved the  names  of  the  principal  heroes  and  suitable  inscriptions. 
At  the  apex  of  the  column  there  will  be  a  bronze  eagle,  gilded, 
with  wings  extended  and  holding  in  his  talons  a  scroll,  on  which 
will  appear  the  single  word  "  Libertad."  At  the  base  of  the  col- 
umn there  will  be  an  allegorical  figure  symbolical  of  Salvador 
holding  a  sword  and  a  flag  and  tendering  a  crown  of  laurels  to  the 
martyrs. 

A  prominent  official  of  the  Republic  of  Salvador  writes  to  com- 
plain of  the  sensational  dispatches  published  in  the  papers  of  the 
United  States  concerning  occurrences  in  that  country.     These  dis- 


SALVADOR.  I99 

patches,  it  is  claimed,  emanated  from  unfriendly  sources  in  the  City 
of  Mexico.  One  particular  dispatch  complained  of  described  an 
earthquake  in  the  city  of  Salvador  that  was  alleged  to  have  re- 
cently occurred  there,  attended  by  ruin,  desolation,  and  an  enor- 
mous loss  of  life  and  property.  It  is  true  that  there  was  an  earth- 
quake in  Salvador  about  this  time  and  that  the  inhabitants  were 
considerably  frightened,  but  not  a  house  was  seriously  damaged 
and  not  a  life  was  lost.  A  few  persons  were  injured,  being  struck 
by  falling  bricks  and  timber,  but  the  event  was  not  of  sufficient 
importance  to  receive  more  than  an  ordinary  paragraph  in  the  local 
papers. 


Uruguay. 


FOREIGN  COMMERCE  OF  URUGUAY  FOR  THE  YEAR  1890. 

The  following  table  shows  the  imports  by  principal  articles  com- 
pared with  imports  of  the  same  articles  for  1889 : 


Wines  and  liquors 

Food  products 

Tobacco  and  cigars 

Dress  goods  and  other  fabrics 

Ready-made  clothing 

Machinery  and  industrial  material 
All  other  articles 

Total 


Dollars. 
4-945,815 
8,  076,  686 

585,  369 
4,  932,  20I 
I,  742,  814 

8,  466,  058 
8,  074,  921 


36,  823,  863 


1890. 


Dollars. 

4,  403.  624 

6,  698,  040 

589,  308 

3.  769,  570 
1,534.735 
9,  430,  594 

5,  927,  681 


32,359-  552 


Although  these  tables  show  a  decrease  or  nearly  $4,500,000,  the 
returns  are  considered  more  favorable  to  the  prosperity  of  the  coun- 
try than  those  of  1889,  as  during  that  year  the  boom  of  inflation 
was  at  its  height.  The  imports  01  1889  exceeded  those  of  1888 
by  $7,500,000,  and  were  double  those  of  1882.  The  imports  for 
1890  exceed  those  of  1888  by  $2,750,000,  and  those  of  all  pre- 
ceding years  in  proportion.  The  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Commerce 
at  Montevideo  suggests  that,  putting  1889  and  1890  together,  the 
average  for  the  two  years,  which  is  about  $34,500,000,  represents 
the  healthy  import  trade  of  the  country. 

The  decrease  in  wines  and  liquors  was  about  $500,000 ;  that  in 
food  products  about  $1,500,000 ;  that  of  dress  goods,  $1,250,000 ; 
200 


URUGUAY.  201 

that  of  machinery  and  industrial   materials,  $1,000,000;  and   in 
various  articles  the  decrease  was  over  $2,000,000. 

The  following  table  shows  the  exports   of  Uruguay  in    1890 
compared  with  those  of  1889,  which  show  a  healthy  increase  of 

$3>131411: 

1889.  1890. 


Dollars.  Dollars. 


Animals  on  foot I        466,  272 

Fresh  and  preserved  meats 23,  824,  672 


Farm  products. 

Other  products 

Provisions  for  vessels 

Total 


373.  280 

1,  221,  847 

68,  036 


544,  690 

26,  030,  084 

1,  439,  100 

1,  026,  698 

44,  935 


25,954,107 


29,  085,  518 


The  imports  of  Uruguay  for  the  last  year  were  largely  in  excess 
of  the  exports,  as  has  been  the  case  for  several  years,  but  the  differ- 
ence was  not  so  great.  In  1889  the  balance  of  trade  against 
Uruguay  was  $10,869,756,  whereas  in  1890  the  difference  was 
only  $3,274,034. 

The  returns  for  Uruguay  also  show  that  16,169  vesseK  with  a 
tonnage  of  5,698,768  tons,  entered  the  ports  of  the  Republic  dur- 
ing the  year  1889,  and  16,044  cleared  from  the  ports  of  the  Re- 
public, with  a  tonnage  of  5,744,125  tons.  Eight  hundred  and 
forty-one  steamers  arrived  at  the  port  of  Montevideo,  with  a  ton- 
nage of  1,397,983  tons.  During  the  year  24,117  immigrants 
arrived,  of  whom  19,440  were  from  Europe. 

The  total  receipts  from  customs  duties  for  the  year  were  $9,848,- 
735,  of  which  $9,417,057  were  collected  at  the  port  of  Monte- 
video. 

The  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  Republic  of  Uruguay  reports 
that  642,100  head  of  cattle  were  slaughtered  in  Uruguay  during 
the  year  1890  and  764,000  in  the  Argentine  Republic  during 
the  same  year,  making  a  total  of  1 ,406, 1 00  for  the  cattle  slaugh- 
tered in  the  River  Plate  Republics. 


202 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


The  official  returns  of  the  receipts  from  customs  of  Uruguay  for 
the  year  1890  received  at  the  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics, 
show  that,  although  the  revenue  from  this  source  was  not  quite 
as  great  in  1890  as  in  1889,  lt  aggregated  more  than  $2,000,000 
over  the  annual  average.  The  receipts  for  1890  were  $9,850,000 
gold.  The  city  of  Montevideo  has  had  a  year  of  fair  prosperity, 
nearly  900  houses  having  been  built  during  1890,  while  the  sale 
of  real  estate  amounted  to  $300,000,000  throughout  the  Republic. 

EXPORTS  AND  IMPORTS  1890. 

The  complete  trade  returns  from  Uruguay  for  the  year  1890 
show  a  total  foreign  commerce  for  that  year  of  $61,450,000.  This 
was  divided  into  $32,360,000  imports  and  $29,090,000  exports. 
The  exports  and  imports  by  countries  were  as  follows : 


Year. 

Imported  from. 

Exported  to. 

Great  Britain 

Dollars. 

8,  770,  000 
5,  090,  OOO 
2,  8lO,  OOO 
2,  64O,  OOO 
2,  630,  OOO 
2,  47O,  OOO 
2,  440,  OOO 

2,  170,000 

3,  320,  OOO 

Dollars. 
3,  950,  OOO 
6,  120,  OOO 

France 

Germany 

I,  020,  OOO 

2,  55O,  OOO 
36o,000 

3,  280,  OOO 

2,  OIO,  OOO 

Ital  v 

United  States 

240,000 
9,  560,  OOO 

Total 

32,  360,000 

29,  O9O,  OOO 

The  exports  for  1890  exceeded  those  of  1889  by  $3,131,412, 
which  show  a  healthier  condition  of  affairs,  and  were  divided  as 
follows : 

Pastoral  products $26,  550, 000 

Agricultural  products   1,  230, 000 

Sundries 1,  310, 000 

Total 29,  090,  000 


URUGUAY. 


203 


The  following  table  will  show  a  comparison  of  the  commerce 
of  1 890  with  the  previous  years  : 


Year. 


1862 
1872 
1882 
1885 
1889 
1890 


Imports. 


Dollars. 

8,  150,  OOO 
18,  860,  OOO 
18, 170,000 
25,  280,  OOO 
36,  820,  OOO 
32,  360,  OOO 


Exports. 


Dollars. 

8,  805,  OOO 
15,  49O,  OOO 
22,  060,  OOO 
25,  250,  OOO 
25,  950,  OOO 
29,  080,  OOO 


The  imports  of  1890  were  less  by  $4,459,236  than  in  1889,  the 
falling  off  by  countries  being  as  follows : 


Importation — decrease  in  1 890. 


England $1,  699,  232 

France 416,  479 

Germany 622,  515 

Italy 631,  861 

Brazil 31,  906 


States. 


United 

Spain 

Belgium  

Chili 

Sweden  and  Norway. 


$966,  665 
440,  972 
130,  227 

599»  §63 
194, 978 


Paraguay,  Switzerland,  and  Denmark  each  show  a  decrease 
under  $12,000  each. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  England  maintained  her  supremacy  in 
the  matter  of  imports,  her  percentage  of  the  whole  being  27.1  per 
cent,  while  her  percentage  for  1889  was  28.4  per  cent.  France  re- 
mains second  on  the  list,  with  a  considerable  increase,  furnishing 
15.8  per  cent  of  the  imports  in  1890  as  against  13  per  cent,  in  1889. 
The  United  States  receded  from  the  fourth  place  in  1889  to  t^le 
seventh  place  in  1890. 

The  statistics  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  Uruguay  for  the  first 
six  months  of  1891  show  that  the  importation  during  the  latter 
three  months  exceeded  the  former  by  a  half  million  dollars.  The 
total  amount  for  this  period  was  : 

Importation t $9,  708,  785 

Exportation 18,  702,  757 


Total 28,411,  542 


204  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

The  reports  give  a  comparison  with  the  commerce  of  the  past 
years  and  show  a  balance  in  favor  of  the  country  of  exportation 
over  importation  amounting  to  over  nine  millions  of  dollars.  From 
these  reports  it  appears  that  the  trade  of  the  country  is  assuming  a 
normal  condition  and  has  recovered  from  the  disturbances  occa- 
sioned by  the  financial  crisis  of  1890. 

TARIFF  CHANGES. 

The  Congress  of  Uruguay  has  made  some  important  changes 
in  the  tariff  laws  of  that  country,  and  the  following  additional  cus- 
toms duties  have  been  imposed  (April  5,  1891): 

Imports:  Five  per  cent  ad  valorem  calculated  upon  the  official 
valuations  of  the  existing  tariff:  with  the  exception,  however,  of 
goods  hitherto  duty  free,  and  of  potatoes,  printed  books,  printing 
ink,  type  and  presses,  printing  paper  for  journals,  lithographic 
paper,  flowerseeds,  sulphuric,  nitric,  and  hydrochloric  acids,  dam- 
mar, phosphorus  in  sticks,  dyewoods,  raw  Paraguayan  tea,  gold 
jewelry,  gold  and  silver  watches,  maps,  globes,  and  apparatus  tor 
the  study  of  the  natural,  physical,  and  mathematical  sciences,  coal, 
bay  salt  and  rock  salt,  and  precious  stones  unset,  on  which  the 
duties  remain  as  before. 

Exports  (which  have  hitherto  been  free),  the  following  specific 
duties:  Wool,  per  100  kilos,  $1.30;  sheepskins,  per  100  kilos, 
80  cents;  hair,  $1.70;  grease,  50  cents;  jerked  beef,  40  cents; 
preserved  meat  and  tongues,  $1  ;  hide  dressings,  25  cents;  ash 
and  bones,  per  1,000  kilos,  60  cents;  animal  guano, 60  cents;  ox 
hides,  salted,  per  piece,  25  cents ;  ox  hides,  dried,  1 2  cents ;  mares' 
hides,  salted,  1 2  cents ;  mares'  hides,  dried,  60  cents ;  calf  hides, 
per  100  kilos,  $1  ;  seal  skins  per  piece,  16  cents;  horns,  per  1,000, 
$2.50;  extract  of  meat,  per  kilo,  10  cents. 

The  congress  of  Uruguay  has  made  the  following  changes  in 
the  tariff  on  spirits  and  liquors: 

Foreign  spirits,  not  exceeding  20°  Cartier  in  strength,  1 5  cents 


URUGUAY.  205 

per  liter ;  above  that  strength,  78  cents  for  each  degree  in  excess. 
Spirits  manufactured  in  the  country  will  be  subjected  to  an  excise 
duty  of  13.2  cents  per  liter,  irrespective  of  strength,  to  be  levied  on 
the  actually  existing  stock  as  well  as  on  what  may  be  hereafter  pro- 
duced. 

The  duties  on  bitters,  cognac,  anisette,  gin,  and  other  spirituous 
drinks,  in  cask,  not  exceeding  20°  per  liter,  31  cents;  the>same  in 
bottles  containing  from  5 1  centiliters  to  1  liter,  per  bottle,  3 1  cents. 
Those  of  greater  or  lesser  size,  or  greater  alcoholic  strength,  pay 
in  proportion. 

Liquors,  in  casks,  per  liter,  31  cents;  the 'same,  in  bottles  con- 
taining from  51  centiliters  to  1  liter,  31  cents.  In  bottles  of  greater 
or  lesser  size,  in  proportion. 

Vermouth,  fornot,  and  the  like  in  casks,  per  liter,  3 1  cents ;  the 
same,  in  bottles  containing  from  5 1  centiliters  to  1  liter,  per  bottle, 
31  cents.     In  bottles  of  greater  or  lesser  size,  in  proportion. 

These  duties  are  payable  in  gold,  and  the  par  value  of  the  dollar 
is  about  $  1 .04. 

The  congress  of  Uruguay  has  increased  the  duty  on  breadstuffs 
to  the  following  figures:  maize  (corn),  80  cents  per  100  kilos; 
wheat,  $1.35  per  100  kilos;  wheat  flour,  $2.70  per  100  kilos; 
clover  and  forage,  $1  per  100  kilos.  A  kilo  is  two  and  one-fifth 
pounds. 

There  having  been  a  great  deal  of  complaint  concerning  the 
port  charges  in  the  harbor  of  Montevideo,  the  President  of 
Uruguay  has  laid  before  the  Congress  of  that  country  a  message 
recommending  important  modifications  under  which  a  steamer  of 
1,500  tons,  for  example,  which  now  pays  $352  dues,  in  the  future 
will  only  have  to  pay  $116.  He  also  recommends  that  vessels 
stopping  in  the  harbor  of  Montevideo  only  for  coal  and  supplies 
shall  be  exempt  from  all  dues,  on  the  ground  that  such  a  con- 
cession would  restore  the  coaling  and  provisioning  trade  of  that 
port. 


206  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

The  budget  of  Uruguay  for  the  fiscal  year  1891-92  estimates 
the  revenue  receipts  at  $  1 5,409,500  and  fixes  the  expenditures  at 
$15,246,175.  The  consolidated  debt  of  the  country  is  $84,481,- 
104,  on  which  the  interest  and  service  charges  amount  to  $5,963,- 
320  a  year.  The  total  interest  obligations  are  $8,720,257.  The 
customs  receipts  for  the  ensuing  fiscal  year  are  estimated  at  $10,- 
622,000. 

The  annual  report  of  the  minister  of  finance  of  Uruguay  shows 
that  the  public  debt  amounts  to  $84,500,000,  which  is  at  the  rate 
.of  30  pounds  sterling  or  $150  per  inhabitant.  The  revenue  of 
the  Government  in  1890  amounted  to  $15,690,000  and  the  ex- 
penditures to  $15,250,000.  The  expenditures  were  as  follows : 
for  interest  on  the  public  debt,  $7,300,000;  for  maintaining  the 
army,  $1,770,000;  for  pensions,  $1,430,000;  for  expense  of  the 
administration  of  the  Government,  $4,750,000. 

REDUCTION  OF  RAILWAY  GUARANTY. 

All  the  railroads  of  Uruguay  having  a  7  percent  guaranty  from 
the  Government  have  agreed  to  relinquish  it  and  accept  a  guar- 
anty of  5  per  cent  instead,  on  the  condition  that  a  sum  of  money 
equivalent  to  the  remaining  2  per  cent  shall  be  paid  annually  into 
a  colonization  fund  to  encourage  immigration  and  a  settlement  of 
the  public  lands.     The  Government  has  accepted  the  proposition. 

By  the  recent  census  the  population  of  Uruguay  is  found  to  be 
711,656. 


Venezuela. 


COMMERCIAL  RETURNS  FOR  THE  YEAR  1890. 

The  revenues  of  the  Government  of  Venezuela  during  1890 
amounted  to  $8,538,072,  which  is  an  increase  of  $893,489  over 
the  previous  year.  Of  these  receipts,  $6,448,349  were  derived 
from  import  dues.  The  exports  for  the  year  reached  a  total  of 
$19,450,067.  The  principal  articles  of  export  and  their  values 
were,  coffee,  $13,716,367;  cocoa,  $1,798,080;  virgin  and  placer 
gold  and  residuum,  $1,713,090;  hides,  $468,777;  deer  and 
goat  skins,  $442,477;  cattle,  $226,644;  g°^  anc*  silver  coin, 
$103,998;  caoutchouc,  $52,900;  copper,  $35,300;  timber, 
$26,348,  and  copaiba,  $23,166.  The  imports  into  the  port  of  La 
Guayra  for  the  same  period  were  of  the  value  of  $10,164,415; 
being  greater  by  $803,829  than  those  of  the  preceding  year. 

Official  returns  from  the  Republic  of  Venezuela  show  that  there 
are  9,000,000  cattle,  6,000,000  sheep,  2,000,000  hogs,  and  2,000,- 
000  horses  and  mules  in  that  Republic. 

The  following  statement  shows  the  production  of  gold  from 
the  Venezuelan  gold  fields  during  the  year  1889 : 


Mines. 

Ounces. 

Mines. 

Ounces. 

El  Callao 

53-973-55 

21,777.71 

5,444-50 

1,  932.  00 

Potosi .  ' 

682.  25 
24.OO 

Venezuelan  Austin 

Union 

Chile 

Total 

82,  834.  OI 

207 


208  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

The  Government  of  Venezuela  has  restored  the  duty  on  corn,, 
rice,  beans,  and  pease,  which  were  temporarily  exempted  from 
import  duties  in  March  last. 

The  Government  of  Venezuela  has  signed  a  contract  with  a 
French  gentleman,  named  Jose  Bonnet,  for  the  establishment  of 
steam  navigation  on  the  Orinoco  and  Meta  rivers,  from  Ciudad 
Bolivar  to  Cabayaro.  There  is  now  no  regular  service  on  the 
Orinoco  above  Ciudad  Bolivar.  A  line  of  steamers  has  for 
many  years  been  conducted  by  Capt.  Lee,  an  American,  between 
Port  of  Spain,  Trinidad,  and  Ciudad  Bolivar,  and  they  have 
proved  to  be  very  prosperous.  This  new  line,  however,  will  open 
to  commerce  an  enormous  tract  of  country  that  is  almost  unex- 
plored, and  which  is  known  to  be  very  rich  in  natural  products. 
Senor  Bonnet  will  receive  a  subsidy  from  the  Venezuelan  Gov- 
ernment of  $3,200  for  each  round  trip  from  Ciudad  Bolivar  to 
Cabayaro,  and  $2,500  for  each  round  trip  between  Ciudad  Boli- 
var and  the  city  of  Orinoco.  In  addition  to  providing  steamship 
service,  at  least  one  round  trip  per  month,  Senor  Bonnet  agrees 
to  establish  three  agricultural  colonies  on  the  banks  of  the  Meta 
River,  of  at  least  ten  familes  each,  who  will  engage  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  sugar,  cocoa,  tobacco,  and  other  exportable  products. 

The  Venezuelan  Government  has  granted  to  Henry  F.  Rud- 
hofF,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  a  concession  for  a  line  of  rail- 
way, commencing  at  the  city  of  Puerto  Cabello,  and  thence  via 
San  Felipe  to  Araure,  supplemented  by  a  further  concession  to 
continue  the  line  to  Guanare,  a  total  distance  of  350  kilometers. 
Guanare  is  the  capital  of  the  State  of  Zamora. 

IMMIGRATION    LAWS. 

The  Government  of  Venezuela  has  recently  enacted  some  very 
liberal  laws  relating  to  immigration.  The  Government  will  pay 
the  passage  of  immigrants  by  sea,  from  the  port  of  sailing  to  the 
port  of  landing  in  the  Republic;  will  admit  free  of  duty  all  articles 


VENEZUELA.  2(X) 

of  wearing  apparel,  household  utensils,  professional  machinery, 
tools,  and  instruments ;  and  will  pay  the  expenses  of  the  landing 
of  immigrants  and  their  board  and  lodging  during  the  first  fifteen 
days  after  their  arrival.  Immigrants  must,  however,  bring  a  cer- 
tificate from  the  consul  of  Venezuela  in  the  country  from  which 
they  came,  setting  forth  their  condition.  The  cost  of  transporting 
the  immigrants  from  the  port  of  arrival  to  one  of  the  colonies  will 
be  paid  by  the  Government  except  when  the  immigrant  comes 
under  contract  with  some  State  or  corporation.  In  this  case  the 
state  or  corporation  will  be  expected  to  pay  the  cost  of  his  trans- 
portation to  his  place  of  residence.  Each  immigrant  is  entitled 
to  a  fee  simple  to  1  hectare  (2%  acres)  of  land  upon  taking  pos- 
session, and  after  one  year's  residence  he  may  purchase  at  one- 
half  the  legal  public  price  as  much  public  land  as  he  may  desire. 
Immigrants  enjoy  all  privileges  conceded  to  foreigners,  and  if 
naturalized  are  exempt  from  military  duty  for  five  years.  Immi- 
grants purchasing  public  lands  are  not  required  to  pay  for  them 
until  two  years  after  taking  possession,  but  they  are  not  allowed 
to  transfer  their  sales  until  after  three  years  of  actual  possession. 

The  new  law  for  the  encouragement  of  immigration  into  Ven- 
ezuela, just  received  by  the  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics, 
provides  that  each  of  the  consuls  of  that  Government  in  foreign 
countries  should  act  as  special  agents  to  afford  information  respect- 
ing the  advantages  offered  to  persons  desirous  of  settling  in  the 
Republic. 

By  a  census  taken  in  March  last,  the  city  of  Maracaibo,  Vene- 
zuela, was  found  to  have  45,177  inhabitants. 

By  an  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  Venezuela, 
passed  in  April,  1891,  the  Government  was  ordered  to  buy  the 
house  in  which  the  Liberator,  Simon  Bolivar,  was  born,  to  preserve 
it  in  the  proper  way  as  a  national  monument,  and  to  establish  in 
it  a  museum  of  Venezuelan  antiquities,  for  which  purpose  the 
proper  appropriation  was  made. 
Bull.  41 14 


210  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

The  Government  of  Venezuela  has  decided  to  erect  a  seminary 
for  the  higher  education  of  women  at  Caracas  to  accommodate 
two  hundred  students.  The  Government  last  year  established  four 
immigration  offices  in  Europe,  which  are  already  giving  satisfactory 
results.  Senor  Rafael  Luna,  jr.,  has  been  appointed  consul  of 
Venezuela  at  Philadelphia,  vice  Dr.  Francisco  Lopez  Mendez. 
The  Government  of  Venezuela  has  issued  a  decree  placing  all 
red  wines  imported  in  casks  or  bottles  in  the  third  class  of  its  cus- 
toms tariff. 


British  Colonies. 


The  increasing  tide  of  winter  travel  to  the  West  Indies  is  caus- 
ing the  development  of  a  number  of  steamship  and  hotel  building 
projects,  and  the  extension  of  cable  communications.  A  company 
has  been  organized  to  build  a  $56,000  hotel  on  each  of  the  Wind- 
ward Islands  and  to  construct  two  new  steamers,  to  be  fitted  up  with 
first-class  passenger  accommodation  and  cold-storage  facilities  for 
fruit,  to  ply  between  those  islands  and  New  York,  and  not  to  occupy 
more  than  ]  o  days  for  the  trip.  The  governor  of  Granada  proposes  to 
subsidize  the  steamers  at  the  rate  of  $7,Joo  a  year  for  seven  years 
and  to  guarantee  for  the  same  length  of  time  5  per  cent  interest  on 
the  hotel  investment.  The  governor  of  Trinidad  has  also  agreed 
to  subsidize  a  line  of  steamers  toJMew  York  and  has  given  a  con- 
tract for  the  erection  of  a  hotel  at  Port  of  Spain.  In  the  Leeward 
Islands  the  governor  has  subsidized  a  packet  company  to  run 
steamers  between  Dominica  and  St.  Thomas,  taking  in  the  chief 
of  the  Virgin  Islands,  hitherto  inaccessible. 

A  company  known  as  the  Bermuda  and  West  India  Cable 
Company,  which  is  not  connected  with  the  Western  Union  system, 
proposes  to  establish  a  cable  service  which  will  commence  at  St. 
Thomas  and  come  down  the  islands  to  Trinidad.  It  promises  to 
reduce  cable  rates  to  New  York  from  $1.15  a  word,  as  now 
charged,  to  75  cents.  Another  projected  enterprise  is  a  system  of 
French  cables  from  Martinique  and  Parimarico  via  Pernambuco 
to  Europe. 

The  Royal  Mail  Steamship  Company  of  Great  Britain  is  build- 
ing three  small  steamers,  120  feet  in  length  and  about  goo  tons, 

211 


212  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

for  local  use  between  the  several  British   Colonies  in  the  West 
Indies. 

BAHAMAS. 

Mr.  McLain,  the  United  States  consul  at  Nassau,  West  Indies, 
reports  that  the  following  articles  have  been  added  to  the  free  list 
of  importations  into  that  colony : 

Tallow,  rosin,  caustic  soda,  potash,  palm-oil,  electrical  apparatus 
and  appliances,  crude  petroleum,  and  metal  roofing.  On  all  ker- 
osene oil  used  as  fuel  in  the  working  of  steam  engines  a  drawback 
of  90  per  cent  will  be  allowed  on  proof  of  such  consumption. 

A  steamship  line  between  Nassau  and. the  other  Bahama  Islands 
has  been  established  under  contract  with  the  colonial  government, 
and  a  cable  is  now  being  laid  between  Nassau  and  the  coast  of 
Florida.  It  will  land  at  Juniper  Inlet  and  is  expected  to  be  ready 
for  operation  by  the  first  of  January. 

BARBADOS. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  has  just  received  the 
official  report  on  the  census  of  Barbados.  This  report  shows  that 
the  total  population  enumerated  on  the  night  of  the  5th  of  April 
last  was  182,306,  being  an  increase  since  1881  of  10,154,  or  6.3 
per  cent.  The  population  of  the  several  districts  is  given  as  fol- 
lows : 


Bridgetown 29,  996 

St.  Michael 35,  187 

Christ  Church 21,  492 

St.  Philip 18,663 

St.  George 16,  054 

St.  John 10,  956 


St.  Peter 10,  Soo 

St.  James 10,  500 

St.  Lucy 9,  762 

St.  Joseph 9,  048 

St.  Andrew 8,  746 

St.  Thomas 10,  098 


This  shows  an  increase  over  the  census  return  of  1881  of  18 
for  Bridgetown,  5,617  for  St.  Michael,  1,244  f°r  Christ  Church, 
514  for  St.  Philip,  622  for  St.  George,  587  for  St.  John,  538  for 
St.  Peter,  446  for  St.  James,  698  for  St.  Lucy,  522  for  St.  Joseph, 
and  458  for  St.  Andrew.     There  appears  a  decrease  in  the  popu- 


BRITISH    COLONIES.  213 

lation  of  St.  Thomas  of  450  as  compared  with  the  census  taken 
in  1881.  The  density  of  the  average  population  of  the  island  is 
shown  to  be  about  5  persons  to  every  3  acres,  or  1,096  to  the 
square  mile,  as  against  1,030  to  the  square  mile  in  1881.  In 
Bridgetown  and  the  suburban  parish  of  St.  Michael  the  popu- 
lation gives  an  average  of  about  6  persons  to  an  acre,  while  the 
average  of  the  other  ten  parishes  is  about  4  to  every  3  acres. 

The  West  Indian  Ice  Company,  which  has  been  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  artificial  ice  and  maintaining  cold-storage 
houses  in  the  islands  of  Trinidad  and  Barbados  for  some  years, 
has  arranged  for  the  establishment  of  a  similar  enterprise  in  George- 
town, British  Guiana.  The  company  has  contracted  for  a  refrig- 
erator steamer  to  sail  regularly  between  New  York  and  Barbados, 
Trinidad,  and  British  Guiana,  carrying  cargoes  of  fresh  meats  and 
vegetables  from  the  United  States  and  bringing  tropical  fruits  as 
return  cargo. 

BERMUDA. 

As  soon  as  the  cable  between  Bermuda  and  the  United  States 
is  laid,  it  is  proposed  to  extend  it  to  Grand  Turk  and  the  other 
Bahama  Islands,  and  then  to  Jamaica. 

GUIANA. 

By  a  recent  census  the  population  of  British  Guiana  is  found 
to  be  288,328,  an  increase  of  26,142  from  the  last  census,  taken 
ten  years  ago.  The  population  of  the  city  of  Georgetown  was 
47,207,  and  of  New  Amsterdam  8,903.  The  increase  in  the 
population  of  Georgetown  was  6,001,  and  of  New  Amsterdam 
779.  The  native-born  population  is  170,106,  and  the  East 
Indian  population  (coolies)  105,465. 

The  culture  of  bananas  has  been  begun  on  a  small  scale  in 
Demerara.  Suckers,  produced  from  the  Jamaica  banana,  were 
introduced  into  the  botanical  gardens  at  Providence,  Demerara, 
year  before  last,  and  these  have  been  fruiting  for  several  months. 


214  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

The  bunches  are  said  to  eclipse  samples  received  from  Jamaica  of 
the  varieties  shipped  to  the  United  States,  the  largest  of  which 
weighed  39  pounds  1 2  ounces,  while  the  second  bunch  produced 
at  Providence  weighed  71  pounds  when  cut,  on  July  8,  and  there 
were  174  bananas  on  the  bunch,  excluding  the  half-developed 
ones  on  the  end.     The  loss  of  weight  in  ripening  was  1  pound. 

The  Boston  Fruit  Company  has  recently  invested  a  large  sum 
of  money  in  the  cultivation  of  bananas  near  Georgetown,  British 
Guiana. 

The  total  product  of  sugar  in  British  Guiana  for  the  current  year 
is  8 1 ,  883  hogsheads,  being  4,600  hogsheads  in  excess  of  the  product 
of  last  year.  The  exports  of  rum  for  the  year  were  14,1 16  tuns, 
being  500  tuns  less  than  in  1890.  The  output  of  gold  was 
75,575  ounces,  against  47,090  last  year. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  has  received  official 
returns  showing  that  the  exports  of  gold  from  British  Guiana, 
between  the  1st  of  January  and  the  1st  of  August  last,  amounted 
to  52,286  ounces,  of  a  value  of  $931,432,  United  States  gold. 
This  is  an  increase  of  $68,847  over  tne  expofts  of  the  correspond- 
ing period  last  year.  Most  of  this  gold  is  obtained  in  that 
portion  of  Guiana  which  was  seized  by  England  from  Vene- 
zuela, and  the  territory,  although  larger  than  France,  does  not 
contain  more  than  36,000  people. 

A  nugget  of  gold  weighing  35  pounds  has  been  found  in  the 
gold  district  recently  discovered  in  British  Guiana,  and  has  been 
sent  to  England  as  a  specimen  of  the  auriferous  deposits  of  that 
colony. 

The  discovery  of  diamonds  in  British  Guiana  has  created  con- 
siderable excitement  in  that  colony,  and  the  matter  has  become 
the  subject  of  official  investigation.  The  governor-general  of  the 
colony,  at  the  recent  session  of  the  "combined  court"  or  legisla- 
ture, reported  that  out  of  the  package  of  638  stones  recently  sent 
to   London  for   analysis,  only  five   examples  were  found  to  be 


BRITISH    COLONIES.  21^ 

worthless,  and  the  remaining  633  specimens  were  all  found  to  be 
genuine  and  "  good  water  "  diamonds.  These  stones  were  acci- 
dentally found  by  ordinary  laborers,  and  not  by  experts,  and  the 
result  has  been  a  "  diamond  rush  "  to  Georgetown. 

Baron  Hirsch,  of  London,  is  seeking  to  introduce  Russian  Jews 
into  British  Guiana,  and  has  applied  to  the  governor  of  that  colony 
for  lands  on  which  to  locate  colonies.  The  matter  was  referred 
to  the  Royal  Agricultural  and  Commercial  Society,  which  re- 
ported in  favor  of  locating  a  limited  number  of  Russian  Jews,  not 
more  than  500  adults,' who  shall  be  agriculturists,  and  not  over 
fifty  years  of  age.  The  society  recommends  that  grants  of  from 
5  to  15  acres  of  agricultural  lands  and  from  100  to  150  acres  of 
pasture  lands  shall  be  made  over  to  each  single  adult,  with  the 
understanding  that  this  area  may  be  increased  by  purchase  at  the 
rate  of  $1  per  acre.  It  is  also  proposed  that  implements,  seeds, 
and  breeding  stock  be  furnished  to  the  immigrants  free  of  cost  by 
the  colonial  government,  who  shall  also  provide  the  immigrants 
with  rations  for  a  period  not  exceeding  nine  months  from  the  date 
of  their  arrival  or  until  they  have  been  able  to  harvest  their  first 
crop.  Materials  for  housebuilding  other  than  those  found  upon 
the  land  is  also  to  be  provided  by  the  government. 

JAMAICA. 

By  recent  census  the  population  of  Jamaica  was  found  to  be 
639,491,  of  which  305,948  were  males  and  333,543  were  females. 
These  figures  show  an  increase  of  58,687  in  the  population  of  the 
island  since  1881;  but  while  the  male  population  has  increased  8 
per  cent  the  female  population  has  increased  1 2  per  cent. 

The  Anchor  line  of  steamers,  managed  by  a  British  company, 
will  run  vessels  regularly  every  two  weeks  between  New  York  and 
Jamaica,  Haiti,  Carthagena,  and  Savanilla.  The  first  steamer  left 
New  York  on  the  5th  of  December. 


2l6  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

The  colonial  legislature  of  Jamaica  has  passed  a  law  abolishing 
all  duties  on  exports. 

Interesting  statistics  in  regard  to  the  growth  of  penny  banks  in 
the  island  of  Jamaica  have  been  received.  In  1881,  when  penny 
banks  were  established,  there  were  4,545  depositors,  investing 
$4,655.  Last  year  the  number  of  depositors  had  increased  to 
14,334,  showing  an  excess  of  1,757  over  the  previous  year,  and 
the  deposits  for  the  year  amounted  to  $20,145.  Since  1881  the 
deposits  have  amounted  to  $202,965,  and  $158,920  have  been 
withdrawn,  leaving  $44,045  still  to  the  credit  of  depositors.  There 
are  now  fifty-seven  banks  in  all  parts  of  the  island.  Sixteen  were 
closed  last  year  and  nine  new  ones  were  opened. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  the  millers  of  the  United  States  to  know 
that  the  Canadian  commissioner  to  the  recent  Jamaica  exposition 
demonstrated  that  northern  flour  can  be  kept  a  reasonable  time  in 
the  tropics  without  being  especially  treated.  He  purposely  kept 
flour,  both  in  sacks  and  barrels,  sixty  and  ninety  days,  exposed  to 
ordinary  weather,  and  at  the  end  of  this  time  both  lots  were  found 
to  be  perfectly  sweet  and  wholesome.  Bread  from  this  flour  was 
then  baked  and  distributed  among  visitors  to  the  exposition. 

Col.  Ward,  commissioner  from  Jamaica  to  the  World's  Fair, 
says  : 

I  have  asked  for  7,000  square  feet,  and  we  shall  exhibit  sugar,  rum,  sisal 
grass,  and  all  the  other  commodities  that  the  island  exports.  A  striking  feature 
of  our  exhibit  will  be  the  display  made  of  all  the  plants  the  island  produces. 
They  will  include  the  cocoanut  palm,  the  mangrove — which  is  used  in  tanning — 
the  sisal,  and  other  useful  grasses,  bunches  of  the  feathery  bamboo,  yams,  cas- 
sava, eddoes,  and  fruits.  Coffee  will  be  shown  in  every  stage  of  growth  and 
process  of  curing.  All  those  I  have  mentioned  are  produced  in  the  low-lying 
seaboard  districts.  We  also  hope  to  show  how  on  the  higher  lands  cinchona  is 
cultivated,  and  how  from  the  bark  quinine  is  made.  Both  the  Government 
departments  and  the  individuals  actually  interested  in  the  fair  have  been  most 
kind,  and  the  latter  have  promised  pecuniary  help  to  make  the  Jamaica  exhibit 
a  success. 


BRITISH    COLONIES.  217 

LEEWARD    ISLANDS. 

The  United  States  consul  at  Antigua,  West  Indies,  calls  atten- 
tion to  the  total  absence  in  that  colony  of  American  hardware  and 
kitchen  utensils,  which  would  be  very  acceptable  to  the  people, 
and  he  suggests  that  American  manufacturers  send  samples  of  such 
articles  to  the  merchants  of  that  place. 

In  his  annual  address  to  the  legislative  council,  the  Hon.  W. 
F.  Haynes-Smith,  governor  of  Antigua,  British  West  Indies,  has 
the  following  reference  to  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition : 

I  have  to  ask  you  whether  you  would  wish  that  the  colony  should  be  repre- 
sented, at  the  Exposition  to  be  held  in  Chicago  in  the  year  1893.  Her  Majesty 
has  appointed  a  royal  commission,  and  it  would  be  necessary  to  make  early 
arrangements  if  you  desire  to  be  represented  in  order  to  secure  a  proper  display 
of  the  products  of  the  colony,  and  to  show  its  capabilities  for  development.  It 
has  been  found  useful  in  other  colonies  to  hold  a  local  exhibition  first,  and  it  is 
worthy  of  consideration  whether  it  would  not  be  desirable  to  follow  the  same 
course  here. 

TRINIDAD. 

The  recent  census  of  Trinidad  shows  a  population  of  199,784, 
an  increase  of  30  per  cent  in  ten  years. 

The  census  of  the  island  of  St.   Lucia  shows  a  population  of 

That  of  the  island  of  Castries  shows  a  population  of  6,686. 

Rich  organic  phosphate  deposits  have  been  discovered  near 
Gasparillo,  Trinidad.  Some  of  the  specimens  recently  examined 
have  been  found  to  contain  no  less  than  90  per  cent  phosphate, 
and  in  its  present  condition  without  being  treated  chemically  it  has 
proved  very  valuable  as  a  fertilizer  for  garden  vegetables. 

The  Colonial  Government  of  Trinidad  has  entered  into  a  con- 
tract with  Messrs.  TurnbulL  Stewart  &  Co.,  for  a  steamship  serv- 
ice between  Trinidad  and  the  city  of  New  York;  also  for  a 
coasting  service  around  the  island  of  Trinidad,  and  to  the  neigh- 
boring island  of  Tobago.     The  contractors  agree  to  run  at  least 


2l8  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

one  steamer  a  fortnight  between  New  York  and  Trinidad,  carrying 
all  postal  matter  free,  and  all  packages,  plants,  and  seeds  for  the 
botanical  department,  also  all  officials  of  the  colony,  in  consider- 
ation of  which  they  are  to  receive  a  subsidy  of  ,£3,700  per  annum, 
in  monthly  payments  of  ^308  6s.  8d.  The  contractors  are  to 
have  also  the  use,  free  of  charge,  of  all  Government  jetties  and 
wharves  now  existing,  or  which  may  be  hereafter  erected,  and  all 
supplies  of  coal,  fuel,  and  provisions  are  to  be  admitted  free  of 
duty  for  the  use  of  the  steamships ;  and  the  steamers  of  the  com- 
pany are  not  to  be  subjected  to  any  port  or  harbor  dues. 

In  addition  to  the  establishment  of  steamship  service,  the  con- 
tractors are  to  erect  and  furnish  a  hotel  at  the  Port  of  Spaing  at  a 
cost  of  not  less  than  £\  5,000,  on  which  the  Government  guaranties 
an  interest  of  4  per  cent  per  annum. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Agricultural  Record  of  Port  of  Spain, 
which  is  the  official  publication  of  the  Central  Agricultural  Board 
of  Trinidad,  in  a  long  communication  urging  even  a  greater  dis- 
play at  the  Columbian  Exposition  at  Chicago  than  has  already 
been  agreed  upon,  and  for  which  $15,000  has  been  appropriated, 
makes  the  suggestion  that  it  would  be  an  excellent  thing  for  the 
various  English  colonies  of  Guiana,  Barbados,  Jamaica,  Trinidad, 
etc.,  to  combine  and  erect  a  typical  West  India  court,  which 
would  display  the  resources  and  products  of  the  various  British 
colonies. 

WINDWARD  ISLANDS. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  has  information  that 
the  Colonial  Government  proposes  to  grant  to  Messrs.  .Turnbu  11, 
Stewart  &  Co.  a  subsidy  to  maintain  direct  speedy  communica- 
tion between  the  island  of  Grenada  in  the  West  Indies  and  New 
York.  The  Government  agrees  to  pay  $5,000  in  quarterly  in- 
stallments for  one  year  from  the  day  the  first  steamer  leaves  Gren- 
ada for  New  York.  The  steamers  are  to  be  provided  with  first- 
class  accommodations  for  passengers  and  mails,  and  the  rates  of 


BRITISH    COLONIES.  219 

passage  are  not  to  exceed :  first  class,  $50 ;  second  class,  $32.  The 
rates  of  freight  for  fruits  and  vegetables  are :  Bananas  and  plan- 
tains, 60  cents  per  bunch ;  oranges  and  mangoes,  60  cents  a  box 
of  100;  limes,  60  cents  per  box  of  400;  tomatoes,  35  cents  per 
one-half  box;  ginger,  60  cents  per  barrel;  potatoes,  yams,  and 
roots,  60  cents  per  bag ;  nutmegs,  in  boxes,  2  £  cents  per  cubic 
foot.     The  voyage  will  occupy  eight  days. 

By  the  census  just  completed  the  British  colony  of  Grenada, 
West  Indies,  is  found  to  have  a  population  of  53,209.  The  town 
of  St.  George  contains  a  population  of  4,919,  and  the  town  of 
Castries  nearly  7,000. 


Dutch  Colonies, 


Questions  of  boundary,  which  have  been  pending  for  many 
years  as  to  the  limitations  of  the  possessions  of  France  and  Hol- 
land in  Guiana  are  now  on  the  point  of  final  adjustment,  greatly 
to  the  advantage  of  Holland.  The  award  of  the  Emperor  of 
Russia,  to  whose  arbitration  the  question  was  submitted,  divests 
France  of  a  territory,  triangular  in  shape,  lying  between  the  two 
affluents  of  the  Maroni  River,  which  is  described  as  equaling  in 
extent  ten  French  departments.  French  Guiana  will  in  future 
be  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  river  Counani  and  on  the  south 
by  the  Tumac  Huma  Mountains.  The  territory  ceded  it  is 
claimed  was  ascribed  to  France  without  dispute  from  1729  to 
1750.  It  has  since  been  claimed  by  the  Dutch.  In  1861  a 
joint  commission  composed  of  four  French  and  three  Dutch 
engineers  made  a  survey  which  sustained  the  Dutch  claims. 
Discovery  of  valuable  gold  deposits  in  the  disputed  territory  in 
1876  gave  increased  importance  to  the  contest  and  both  nations 
agreed  to  submit  the  facts  to  the  arbitration  of  the  Emperor  of 
Russia,  who  has  sustained  the  findings  which  the  French  en- 
gineers made  against  themselves  in  the  commission  of  1861. 


220 


French  Colonies, 


The  authorities  of  the  Island  of  Martinique  have  established 
new  sanitary  regulations  for  the  government  of  shipping.  Cap- 
tains carrying  on  a  coasting  trade  require  a  single  bill  of  health 
issued  at  the  point  of  departure,  but  it  must  be  vised  by  the 
health  officers  at  each  stop.  In  case  there  is  no  health  officer, 
the  bill  of  health  must  be  certified  to  by  the  local  authorities. 

The  boundary  dispute  between  French  and  Dutch  Guiana  has 
been  settled  by  the  Czar  of  Russia,  to  whom  it  was  referred  for 
arbitration. 

Mr.  Fred  A.  Ober,  the  Commissioner  of  the  World's  Fair  to 
the  West  Indies,  writes  from  St.  Lucia  that  he  has  ^isited  St. 
Thomas  and  Martinique,  in  both  of  which  islands  he  had  very 
satisfactory  interviews  with  the  governors.  He  was  on  his  way 
to  visit  St.  Vincent,  Barbadoes,  Porto  Rico,  Santo  Domingo,  and 
the  Bahamas,  for  the  purpose  of  stimulating  an  interest  in  the 
Exposition.  Mr.  Ober  received  many  acts  of  kindness  from 
Admiral  Gherardi  and  the  officers  of  the  Philadelphia  and  the 
Concord,  who  were  of  much  assistance  to  him  in  his  work. 


Spanish  Colonies. 


CUBA. 


In  answer  to  numerous  inquiries  as  to  the  practical  effect  of  the 
recent  reciprocity  arrangement  with  Spain  for  her  colonies  in  the 
West  Indies,  the  Bureau  oi  American  Republics  furnishes  the 
following  statement,  which  shows  the  duties  charged  upon  articles 
of  merchandise  when  imported  into  Cuba  from  the  United  States 
under  the  new  treaty  and  the  duties  charged  upon  the  same  arti- 
cles when  imported  from  other  countries  under  the  regular  tariff. 


Lard 

Tallow 

Pickled  beef 

Pickled  pork 

Smoked  beef,  pork,  hams,  bacon,  etc 

Smoked  tongue 

Canned  meats 

Fish,  pickled,  smoked,  cured,  or  canned. . 

Oysters 

Potatoes,  onions,  turnips,  and  other  vegeta 
bles. 

Fruits,  fresh  or  preserved 

Butter 

Cheese 

Hay  and  straw 

Oatmeal  and  maizena 

Starch 

Pine  boards  and  planks 

Walnut  boards  and  planks 

Crude  petroleum , 

Refined  petroleum 

Resin 

Turpentine , 

Sewing  machines , 

Coal 

Ice 

Wheat  and  flour 

Corn  and  meal 


From  the  United 
States. 


Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Reduced    25 

per  cent. 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

Free 

$0.  30  per  220 

lbs. 
$0.25  per  220 

lbs. 


From  all  other  countries. 


|>IO.  64 

6.45 
2.  6l 

4-35 

9.  06 

21.  90 

36.54 

4.13 

26.  IO 

r.  52 

3.62 
16.47 
9.06 
1. 16 
6.  09 
7.32 
6.96 
17.40 

1-35 
5.80 


per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 

per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 
per  1,  000  feet, 
per  1, 000  feet, 
per  220  lbs. 
per  220  lbs. 


1.  30  per  220  lbs. 

5.  58  per  220  lbs. 
11.  6  per  cent  ad. 
$0.  70  per  220  lbs. 

0.  25  per  220  lbs. 
4.  57  per  220  lbs. 

1.  52  per  220  lbs. 


val. 


SPANISH    COLONIES.  223 

The  above  values  are  expressed  in  Spanish  gold,  which  is  worth 
92  cents  in  United  States  currency.  One  hundred  kilos  metric 
system  is  equal  to  about  220  pounds  avoirdupois. 

IMPORTS  OF  HAVANA  FOR  1890. 

The  official  statistics  of  imports  into  the  port  of  Havana, 
Cuba,  for  the  year  1890  show  a  marked  increase  over  those  of  the 
previous  year  in  the  chief  articles  imported.  The  imports  of  flour, 
greater  than  for  ten  years,  were  312,292  barrels,  134,601  of  which 
were  from  the  United  States  and  the  balance  from  Spain ;  the  in- 
crease over  the  imports  of  1889  was  20,456  barrels,  but  it  was  en- 
tirely in  the  Spanish  article,  the  United  States  supply  falling  off 
almost  10  per  cent.  This  doubtless  was  caused  by  the  fact  that 
the  import  duties  on  Spanish  flour,  which  had  been  since  1882 
gradually  reduced,  were*  on  July  1,  1890,  entirely  removed.  The 
prices  obtained  for  the  American  flour  advanced  slightly  over  those 
of  1889,  ranging  from  $10  to  13.50,  while  the  extreme  price  of  the 
Spanish  product  was  somewhat  less  than  in  1889. 

The  imports  of  coal  were  184,584  tons,  a  little  in  excess  of 
1889,  154,268  tons  of  which  proceeded  from  the  United  States, 
an  increase  of  25  per  cent  over  the  previous  year. 

Four  hundred  forty-six  thousand  and  six  hundred  quintals  of  ■ 
coal  oil,  entirely  from  the  United  States,  were  entered  during  the 
year,  an  increase  of  13,800  over  1889  anc*  tne  largest  quantity  im- 
ported for  ten  years;  the  imports  of  this  article  were  mostly  in  a 
crude  state,  owing  to  the  increased  competition  of  the  refineries 
there. 

There  were  imported  during  the  year  298,166  quintals  of  lard, 
all  of  which  the  United  States  supplied;  this  was  83,000  quintals 
more  than  in  1889;  and  greatly  surpassed  the  imports  of  this  arti- 
cle for  ten  years.  The  prices  at  from  $10  to  $13  in  wood  and 
$13  to  $16.25  in  tins  were  somewhat  lower  than  the  preceding 
year. 

Box  and  hogshead  shooks,  at  one  time  a  considerable  item  of 


224  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Havana's  commerce  with  the  United  States,  have  almost  dwindled 
to  nothing  in  importation,  and  there  has  been  for  several  years  no 
entry  of  boards  at  this  port,  of  which  the  United  States  in  1881 
furnished  53,559,000  feet.  As  the  United  States  statistics  still 
indicate  a  large  trade  in  these  articles,  it  has  doubtless  been  diverted 
to  other  ports. 

The  receipt  of  codfish  from  the  United  States,  though  consider- 
ably less  than  in  1881  and  1882,  have  gradually  increased  in  the 
last  several  years,  while  the  imports  of  this  article  from  Europe 
have  each  year  lessened.  The  United  States  sent  37,656  quintals 
and  Europe  27,737,  and  the  American  supply  the  previous  year 
amounted  to  23,606  quintals. 

The  importation  of  potatoes  through  the  port  of  Havana  aggre- 
gated 162,929  barrels  from  the  United  States,  and  35,751  barrels, 
boxes,  etc.,  from  Europe.  The  prices  ruling  for  the  former  were 
from  $4  to  $10  per  barrel,  and  for  the  latter  and  domestic  $3.25 
to  $8.25  per  quintal  in  bank  bills. 

Of  wrapping  paper  the  arrivals  at  Havana  reached  71,236  bales 
and  boxes,  40,855  proceeding  from  the  United  States,  with  prices 
at  from  28  to  38  cents  per  ream  for  the  American  as  to  size,  and  25 
cents  to  50  cents  for  other  kinds,  including  the  domestic.  This 
importation  from  the  United  States  was  about  1,700  bales  and 
boxes  less  than  in  1889. 

Other  importations  were  rice,  which  the  East  Indies  almost 
entirely  supplied  to  the  amount  of  $1,071,838  quintals;  jerked 
beef,  from  South  America  only,  aggregating  229,309  quintals; 
76,192  pipes  of  wine  from  Spain,  and  cheese  from  the  United 
States  and  Europe,  the  former  sending  24,545  boxes  and  pack- 
ages, which  was  about  40  per  cent  above  the  European  supply. 

The  receipts  of  ale  in  1890  were  2,349  barrels  and  casks,  and 
219  boxes  from  the  United  States  marked  against  13,712  casks 
and  barrels  and  4,1 10  boxes  from  Europe,  selling  at  $4^  to  $5 
per  dozen  bottles,  and  $12  to  $13.50  per  barrel. 

Except  where  differently  stated  the  quotations  given  were  in  gold. 


SPANISH    COLONIES. 


225 


The  following  table  shows  the  importation  of  the  principal 
articles  of  commerce  at  Havana  during  the  period  from  January 
1  to  May  31,  1891,  and  the  average  importation  during  a  similar 
period  for  five  years  beginning  with  1887 : 


Jerked  beef quintals 

Codfish do.  . 

Coal  oil do. . 

Rice,  Spanish  and  West  Indies do .  . 

Lard do .  . 

Flour,  Spanish  and  American barrels 

Wine pipes 

Empty  hogsheads 

Empty  barrels  and  tierces 

Empty  bags 

Lumber pieces 

Coal,  American  and  European   tons 

Potatoes barrels 


1891. 


143.  342 

27,852 

165,  876 

320,  741 

104,  729 

148,  39S 

34,  844 

8,767 

78,352 

1,  589,  250 

953, 834 
109,  815 
220,  366 


Average. 


122,  676 
42,  038 

202,  684 

377,  134 
94,  814 

115,465 

31,617 

25,  440 

50,  040 

1,  652,  980 

686,  273 

95,8i9 
22,  115 


Collections  at  all  the  custom-houses  on  the  Island  of  Cuba  dur- 
ing the  month  of  June  amounted  to  $1,267,149  as  compared  with 
$1,361,172  in  June,  1890. 

The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  has  the  following  official 
statement  ot  the  imports  into  Havana  from  the  1st  of  January 
to  the  31st  of  October,  1891,  compared  with  the  imports  during 
the  corresponding  period  of  1 890  : 


Articles. 


Jerked  beef quintals. 

Codfish,  European  and  American do. . . 

Coal  oil do.  . . 

Do tanks. 

Rice,  Spanish  and  West  Indies quintals. 

Lard do. . . 

Flour,  Spanish  and  American barrels. 

Wine pipes. 

Hogshead  shooks  (packages) number. 

Box  shooks  (packages) do. . . 

Empty  hogsheads do. . . 

Empty  barrels  and  tierces do. . . 

Empty  bags do.  . . 

Lumber,  pieces do.  . . 

Coal,  American  and  European tons. 

Potatoes barrels. 


1891. 


268,  829 

78,  970 

297,  680 

57 

725, 360 

419,  630 

260,  178 

77,  3i8 

5,246 

16,  187 

9,633 

101,  343 

1,  860,  750 

1,  359,  301 

159,824 

n8,  102 


1890. 


200,  964 

148,  320 
398,  065 

238 

950,  705 

253,  193 

245,  792 

65, 727 

7,722 

240 

36,  750 

60,  624 

857,  750 

422,471 

149,  054 
H7,747 


Bull.  41 15 


226 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


STATISTICS  OF  SUGAR  INDUSTRY  FOR  THE  LAST  TEN  YEARS. 

Carefully  prepared  statistics  of  the  sugar  industry  of  the  Island 
of  Cuba  for  the  last  ten  years  show  the  total  production  of  sugar 
and  molasses  to  have  been  as  follows : 


Year. 


I88I 
1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 


Tons. 


590.5H 
727,061 
560,  689 
674.  539 
778,951 


Year. 


1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 


Tons. 


918,  787 
799.  593 
814,  510 
661,  680 

768,  558 


The  exports  from  all  the  ports  of  Cuba  of  sugar  and  molasses 
during  the  same  period  have  been  as  follows : 


Year. 


Tons. 


Received  by  the 
United  States. 


1881 
1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 
1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 


545,813 
669,  082 
508,  547 
588,  626 
631,  588 
668,  533 
776,  468 
77L5IO 
607,  371 
683,  643 


Per  cent. 

91-33 
94-  13 
95.69 
93- 72 
88.72 
92.70 
91-52 
90.  15 
92.08 
90.38 


The  balance  went,  in  very  small  proportions,  to  England, 
France,  and  other  countries. 

The  sugar  crop  in  Cuba  of  1891  promises  to  be  the  largest  on 
record.  Last  year  it  was  800,000  tons,  but  it  is  expected  that  it 
will  reach  1,000,000  tons  this  year. 

The  Havana  commercial  papers  in  February  1892  furnish  the 
following  item  in  respect  of  the  market  for  flour  in  Cuba:  Flour: 
American — Heavy  receipts,  which  continue  to  be  readily  disposed 
of  at  from  $7  to  $8.37^,  as  to  class.  Spanish. — Heavy  stocks, 
which  continue  neglected,  owing  to  the  low  prices  ruling  for 
American,  and  though  current  classes  may  be  obtained  to-day  at 


SPANISH    COLONIES.  227 

from  $6.50   to   $6.75,  and  the  best  ones  at  $7  to  $7.25  a  bag, 
they  find  no  buyer. 

Between  the  12th  of  March  to  the  30th  of  May,  1891,  1 15,000 
barrels  of  pineapples  were  shipped  from  Havana  to  New  York  by 
the  Ward  line  of  steamers,  and  6,000  barrels  by  the  Tampa  line 
of  steamers.  This  is  the  largest  shipment  of  fruit  of  this  kind 
ever  made. 

Last  February,  by  royal  order,  the  Government  of  Spain  invited 
the  artists  of  that  kingdom  to  compete  for  the  honor  of  erecting  a 
sepulcher  for  the  remains  of  Columbus,  in  the  nave  of  the  cathe- 
dral at  Havana,  and  also  for  the  erection  of  a  monument  properly 
commemorating  the  discovery  of  America  in  the  Central  Park  of  the 
same  city.  For  the  sepulcher  the  sum  of  $50,000  was  appropri- 
ated, and  $100,000  for  the  monument,  with  the  additional  sum  of 
$600  as  a  prize  for  the  author  of  the  plan  second  in  merit.  The 
designs  were  submitted  to  the  Royal  Academy  of  San  Fernando, 
Spain,  which  has  awarded  the  contract  for  the  sepulcher  to  Don 
Antonio  Melida,  and  that  for  the  monument  to  Antonio  Susillo. 
The  second  prize  of  $600  is  given  to  Antonio  Alsina  for  his 
design  for  the  sepulcher.  It  is  announced  that  the  work  will  com- 
mence at  once. 

PUERTO  RICO. 

The  Official  Gazette  of  Puerto  Rico,  in  the  West  Indies,  con- 
tains in  its  issue  of  January  9,  the  decree  of  the  governor  of  that 
island,  presenting  the  Chicago  Exposition  in  a  most  favorable 
manner,  and  appointing  a  commission  composed  of  some  of  the 
most  able  and  influential  men  in  the  colony,  to  take  charge  of  its 
interests  at  the  Fair.  He  refers  to  the  brilliant  results  of  former 
expositions,  and  their  great  influence  in  developing  the  resources 
of  all  countries  and  in  spreading  a  knowledge  of  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences, assisting  industry  and  commerce,  as  is  shown  by  the  fre- 
quency with  which  the  greatest  and  most  progressive  nations  have 
held  them ;  and  predicts  that  the  great  efforts  expended  by  the 


228  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

United  States  will  secure  a  magnificent  success  for  the  Exposition 
to  be  held  at  Chicago  in  1893.  Therefore,  he  says,  that  in  this 
peaceful  contest  the  varied  and  precious  productions  of  Puerto  Rico 
should  take  a  high  rank ;  the  cordial  invitation  of  the  Government 
at  Washington  is  gladly  accepted,  and  all  persons  are  called  upon 
to  contribute  in  every  possible  way  to  the  end  that  the  island  shall 
present  the  best  exhibit  that  can  be  had.  In  order  to  assist  him 
in  those  efforts  he  appoints  a  commission  composed  of  the  follow- 
ing members  : 

Eccmo.  Sr.  Don  Justo  Martin  Luna,  Intendente  General  de  Hacienda 
Publica. 

Eccmo.  Sr.  Don  Pablo  Uberri,  Vice-President  of  the  Permanent  Commis- 
sion of  the  Provincial  Delegation. 

Illmo.   Sr.  Don  Leopoldo  Cano  y  Mazas,  Secretary  of  Governor  General. 

Don  Ricardo  Ivorra,  Chief  of  Public  Works. 

Illmo.   Sr.  Don  Angel  Vasconi,  Inspector  of  Mines,  and  Chief  of  Fomento. 

Don  Juan  J.  Potous,  Alcalde  of  the  Capital. 

Exmo.  Sr.  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Industry,  and  Naviga- 
tion. 

President  of  the  Athenaeum  Puerto-Riqueno. 

President  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Amigos  del  Pais. 

Don  Alberto  Regulez,  Director  of  the  Provincial  Institute. 

Don  Fernando  Lopez  Tuero,  Director  of  the  Agricultural  Station  of  Rio 
Pedras. 

Sr.  Don  Augustin  Sthal. 

Don  Federico  Azenjo. 

Don  Julian  E.  Blanco. 

Don  Ignacio  Diaz  Canoja,  Director  of  the  "Boletin  Mercantil." 

Dr.  Salvador  Blau,  Director  of  "  El  Clamor  del  Pais." 

Don  Jose  Rodriguez  Fuentes. 

Don  Alvaro  Dominguez. 

Don  Gorgonio  Bolivar,  Secretary. 

Don  Jose  G.  del  Valle,  Office  of  the  Governor  General. 

The  decree  also  provides  for  the  immediate  establishment  of 
local  boards,  to  assist  the  central  commission  in  its  work,  to  con- 
sist of  the  mayor,  recorder,  two  merchants,  the  editors  of  the  two 


SPANISH    COLONIES.  229 

oldest  papers  in  the  locality,  and  as  secretary  the  one  serving  the 
municipal  corporation. 

The  activity  and  energy  displayed  by  the  authorities  in  the  im- 
mediate action  taken  as  soon  as  the  official  invitation  was  pre- 
sented to  them,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Special  Commissioner  of  the 
Latin  American  Department,  Mr.  Ober,  will  undoubtedly  produce 
the  most  favorable  results  and  insure  a  very  fine  display  from  that 
island. 


General  Commercial   Information. 


A  Central  American  merchant  who  has  been  long  in  the  trade 
writes : 

The  difficulties  are  many  in  the  way  to  increase  trade  between  the  Central 
American  States  and  this  country,  and  may  be  summed  up  as  follows : 

First.  The  question  of  credit:  The  manufacturers  of  the  United  States,  as 
a  rule,  demand  cash  in  from  ten  to  thirty  days  in  payment  of  goods  bought  for 
export,  while  on  the  other  hand  the  merchant  in  Central  America  requires  at 
least  from  four  to  six  month's  time.  This  is  easily  explained.  The  time  nec- 
essary for  delivering  goods  ranges  from  thirty  to  sixty  days,  because  of  the  poor 
means  of  transportation  existing.  For  instance,  goods  leaving  by  the  Pacific 
Mail  Steamship  Company  on  the  ist  of  the  month  arrive  at  Colon  on  the  9th; 
they  are  sometimes  detained  there  twenty  to  thirty  days  in  crossing  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama,  and  then  go  forward  by  steamer  up  the  coast  and  are  received  ten 
days  afterwards  at  the  port  of  disembarkation.  The  merchant  often  does  not 
receive  his  goods  for  sixty  days  from  date  of  shipment;  meanwhile  the  commis- 
sion merchant  in  New  York  has  to  pay  and  wait  to  know  the  result  of  his  ship- 
ment. European  agents  buy  on  long  time  and  can  afford  to  give  long  credit 
without  the  disbursement  of  much  money.  The  terms  for  payment  in  Europe 
vary  from  six  to  nine  months. 

Second.  The  packing  of  goods:  The  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  do 
not  seem  to  appreciate  this  important  feature;  either  for  want  of  knowledge  and 
experience  or  else  from  a  lack  of  facilities,  very  few  realize  the  severe  handling 
which  goods  are  subjected  to.  For  instance  a  package  is  loaded  in  New  York  by 
steamer  to  Colon,  from  there  put  on  cars  to  Panama,  and  then  transshipped  by 
lighters  to  steamer  which  goes  up  the  coast  and  then  along  the  coast  by  lighters 
again  to  the  wharf  at  the  port  of  destination.  The  ports,  as  a  rule,  are  open 
roadsteads,  and  when  the  sea  is  heavy  the  unloading  to  the  lighters  and  to  the 
wharf  is  a  matter  of  great  difficulty,  and  often  packages  are  handled  very  hard. 
230 


GENERAL.  23] 

Then  transportation  is  in  ox  carts  or  mule  back,  sometimes  the  journey  lasting 
ten  days,  and  then  again  goods  are  handled  as  many  times  on  the  road.  Pack- 
ing should  be  as  light  as  possible,  but  very  strong;  everything  should  be  bur- 
laped  and  strapped,  and  weighing  about  125  pounds  for  mule-back  transporta- 
tion, and  up  to  400  pounds  for  ox  carts. 

The  chances  for  robbery  are  so  great  on  steamers  in  transit  and  conveyances 
on  land  that,  if  any  package  should  be  at  all  open  or  loose,  goods  are  lost,  and 
claims  in  this  respect  -are  sometimes  very  heavy. 

Third.  Styles,  etc.:  The  consuming  population  in  Central  America,  as  in  all 
Spanish  countries,  are  very  difficult  to  make  any  change  in  their  tastes  as  to 
designs,  etc.  Once  an  article  or  design  suits  them,  unless  they  can  get  the  same 
thing  always  they  will  go  elsewhere. 

The  European  manufacturers  study  the  wants  of  these  people,  and  when  they 
get  their  ideas  as  to  the  styles,  etc.,  they  make  special  goods  for  that  trade  and 
keep  them  in  stock  all  the  time.  In  the  United  States,  where  fashions  vary 
every  year,  it  is  difficult  to  find  what  is  wanted,  in  accordance  with  what  was 
had  before. 

Fourth.  Transportation  :  The  principal  way  of  shipment  is  by  the  Pacific 
Mail  Steamship  Company  via  Colon  and  Panama.  Freights  are  very  high  and 
handling  of  goods  very  rough.  The  Europeans  watch  this  branch  of  the  busi 
ness  also,  and  accomplish  more  in  that  respect  than  the  exporters  of  the  United 
States  can  do.  Often  goods  destined  for  Central  America  are  shipped  from  here 
to  Europe  and  transshipped  from  there  more  economically  than  by  going  direct 
from  New  York.  The  principal  obstacle  in  the  way  for  a  change  in  this  respect 
is  the  Panama  Railroad,  controlling  the  passage  across  the  Isthmus.  A  contract 
is  said  to  exist  between  this  railroad  and  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company, 
by  which  there  is  no  way  of  making  through  shipments  to  Central  America  by 
any  other  line  than  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company,  except  by  way  of 
Europe.  If  the  traffic  was  free  to  other  lines,  freight  and  passage  would  be 
reduced  fully  25  to  40  per  cent. 

Passage  :  This  is  another  very  important  feature  of  the  trade.  Passengers 
are  carried  by  the  same  steamers  to  Central  America  that  take  others  for  Cali- 
fornia. The  rate  to  the  latter  port  is  about  $120,  while  to  Central  America 
it  is  from  $145  to  $165,  and  for  only  half  the  distance  sailed.  For  instance, 
the  time  to  Guatemala  takes  sixteen  days  and  to  San  Francisco  thirty-one  days, 
all  by  the  same  steamer.  Complaints  of  the  travelers  from  Central  America  are 
sometimes  very  severe  as  to  treatment  on  the  steamers  coming  to  New  York, 
and  many  go  direct  from  Colon  to  Europe  by  the  French,  German,  and  Eng- 
lish lines  of  steamers,  the  time  of  transit  being  even  a  little  longer  via  New  York. 


232  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

INCREASING  SOUTH  AMERICAN  TRADE. 

The  British  minister  to  Chile,  in  a  recent  dispatch  to  the  for- 
eign office  in  London,  submits  the  following  suggestions  for  fa- 
cilitating and  increasing  British  trade  in  Spanish  America,  which 
apply  with  equal  appropriateness  to  the  United  States: 

(1)  The  study  of  Spanish  in  commercial  schools. 

(2)  The  adoption  of  the  metric  system  of  weights  and  measures. 

(3)  The  issue  of  illustrated  catalogues  in  Spanish;  prices  may  be  quoted 
in  sterling,  but  weights  and  measures  must  be  according  to  the  metric  system. 

(4)  The  appointment  by  first-class  London  advertising  firms  of  agents  in 
each  Republic. 

These  agents  would  contract  for  space  in  all  native  newspapers,  and  should 
be  prepared  to  receive  as  part  payment  and  dispose  of  such  goods  as  are  adver- 
tised, otherwise  the  result  of  advertising  would  be  nil.  So  far,  the  British 
manufacturers  have  been  content  to  advertise  in  Spanish  and  other  advertising 
periodicals  printed  in  London  for  the  Spanish- American  market,  which  news- 
papers go  direct  to  the  dealer's  waste-basket,  whereas,  an  advertisement  appear- 
ing regularly  in  the  native  press  is  seen  by  the  buying  public. 

(5)  Let  each  manufacturer  issue  a  telegraphic  code  arranged  for  his  own 
special  line  of  goods. 

(6)  Study  the  wants  of  each  country,  and  manufacture  special  lines  of  goods 
suited  to  the  market. 

SUGGESTIONS  TO  EXPORTERS. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  private  letter  from  an  old 
merchant,  in  Honduras  that  contains  important  suggestions  to  ex- 
porters : 

There  exists  another  reason  that  could  be  well  added  to  those  you  give  for 
the  failure  of  the  merchants  of  the  United  States  to  capture  the  Latin-American 
trade. 

That  they  do  not  send  out  reliable  agents  who  can  speak  the  language,  and 
are  well  acquainted  with  the  habits,  tastes,  and  wants  of  the  people.  English 
and  German  houses  avail  themselves  of  the  services  of  such  men,  and  the  conse- 
quence is  they  get  the  business.  As  an  instance  of  this,  a  few  months  since  a 
commercial  traveler  came  to  this  city;  he  represented  several  manufacturers  and 
shipping  houses,  three  German  and  two  English.     He  stayed  in  the  city  two 


GENERAL.  233 

weeks,  and  sold  $45,000  worth  of  goods:  he  had  been  about  twelve  months  on 
his  journey  through  Venezuela,  United  States  of  Colombia,  Costa  Rica,  Nica- 
ragua, and  Honduras,  and  in  that  time  he  had  sold  more  than  $1,000,000  worth 
of  goods,  as  he  proved  to  me  by  his  order  books.  He  was  going  from  here  to 
Salvador,  Guatemala,  and  Mexico,  and  he  said  he  expected  by  the  time  he 
reached  the  end  of  his  route  to  have  sold  $500,000  more.  The  great  requisites 
for  such  a  man  are,  ability  to  speak  and  write  the  Spanish  language,  knowledge 
of  the  tastes,  wants,  manners,  and  customs  of  the  people,  knowledge  of  the  pat- 
terns, styles,  classes,  and  value  of  the  goods  suited  to  the  various  markets. 
These  are  very  variable,  often  in  the  same  country  a  particular  pattern  or  class 
of  goods  that  is  preferred  in  one  district  is  unsalable  in  another:  above  all,  he 
must  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  style  of  packing  required  for  different 
countries,  as  it  varies  with  the  facilities  for  transportation  and  what  the  people 
have  been  accustomed  to,  even  the  colors  and  styles  of  labels  on  some  goods 
have  a  great  influence  on  the  sale.  I  have  never  heard  of  any  American  com- 
mercial traveler  visiting  this  part  of  Honduras,  and  many  that  I  have  met  in 
Mexico,  Central,  and  South  America,  were  utterly  unfitted  for  their  position 
by  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  language,  manners,  and  customs  of  the  people,  and 
principles  of  business  existing  in  these  countries,  and  a  complete  ignorance  ot 
the  style  of  goods  most  salable.  I  think  it  would  be  a  most  valuable  and  useful 
addition  to  your  bureau  if  you  could  establish  a  sample  room,  or  as  it  might  be 
more  properly  termed  a  commercial  museum,  to  display: 

First.  Samples,  patterns,  specimens,  and  photographs  of  all  manufactured 
articles  and  goods  most  salable  in  all  the  different  countries  and  districts,  with  sta- 
tistics of  the  average  amount  of  each  imported  and  consumed,  the  prices  obtained, 
and  the  sources  from  which  present  supplies  are  procured,  manner  of  packing, 
and  any  suggestions  that  could  be  offered  as  to  the  best  means  of  diverting  to  or 
obtaining  for  the  United  States  the  trade. 

Second.  Samples,  specimens,  etc.,  of  the  products  of  the  various  countries  and 
districts,  paying  particular  attention  to  new  or  rare  products  at  present  little 
known  in  the  United  States,  prices  at  place  of  production,  facilities  for  export- 
ing, etc. 

GOODS  REQUIRED  IN  LATIN-AMERICAN  COUNTRIES. 

A  gentleman  who  has  traveled  extensively  through  Peru, 
Ecuador,  and  Bolivia,  writes  as  follows  concerning  the  classes  of 
goods  required  in  these  countries : 

The  stores  are  gay  with  foreign  stuffs  of  the  most  brilliant  colors,  coarse, 
shaggy,  woolen  materials  finding  the  most  ready  sale.      There  is  a  call  also  for 


234  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

bright-colored  velvets,  brocades,  and  silks,  which  the  richer  cholas,  or  half-breed 
women,  manufacture  into  skirts.  Nearly  all  the  boots  and  shoes  worn  here  are 
of  home  manufacture,  as  the  natives  require  peculiar  shapes;  many  of  the  styles 
are  very  elaborate.  The  Indians  use  very  peculiar  shoes.  They  are  now  dis- 
carding their  old-fashioned  ponchos  for  new  styles  woven  here  of  foreign  wor- 
steds. 

Hoes,  spades,  shovels,  mattocks,  pickaxes,  rakes,  sickles,  and  trowels  could 
be  imported  into  Bolivia.  I  have  seen  specimens  of  nearly  all  of  these  imported 
from  the  United  States  and  from  Germany,  but  I  think  it  would  be  very  hard 
to  make  these  people  adopt  a  modern  plow.  Iron  plowpoints,  however,  would 
find  a  sale.      I  will  bring  samples  of  all  kinds  of  hardware  found  in  the  market. 

There  is  an  enormous  demand  for  aniline  dyes — there  is  not  a  village  in 
Peru  or  Bolivia  where  these  are  not  sought  after.  Bright-colored  crewels  or 
worsteds  are  equally  popular,  and  there  is  a  good  market  for  figured  or  flowered 
ribbons,  bright-colored,  cheap  cotton  handkerchiefs,  bleached  and  unbleached 
muslins,  and  cheap  cloths  and  cheviots.  In  the  mines  much  mercury  is  con- 
sumed, chemicals  used  in  the  laboratories  as  reagents,  test  tubes,  retorts, 
breakers,  and  other  glass  material,  crucibles,  assaying  ovens,  and  the  like. 
Canned  meats,  lobster,  and  salmon  are  in  great  demand,  especially  at  mining 
centers.  Cheap  earthenware,  and  stoneware,  ornamented  with  gaudy  designs, 
find  a  ready  sale,  as  well  as  cheap  drinking  glasses,  knives  and  forks,  and  brass 
spoons.  As  for  hardware,  besides  the  implements  mentioned  above,  I  think 
there  would  be  little  demand  for  anything  but  locks  and  scissors.  Imitation 
silver  teasets  are  popular.  Wood  is  very  scarce.  I  should  think  fortunes  could 
be  made  in  the  lumber  trade  with  this  country.  A  small  wooden  pole  here 
costs  40  cents,  and  wood  for  building  purposes  is  very  expensive.  For  this 
reason  tables  and  chairs  are  expensive,  and  I  should  think  money  could  be  made 
in  the  furniture  business.  The  beds  in  this  country  are  usually  made  of  iron. 
In  the  country,  however,  one  usually  finds  the  beds  and  tables  made  of  mud 
ledges,  with  a  mud  bench  around  the  room  to  sit  upon.  This  shows  the  scar- 
city of  wood.  For  fuel,  llama,  sheep,  and  asses  dung  is  used,  and  where  a  small 
scrubby  bush,  called  "tola,"  occurs,  this  also  is  burned. 

American  watches  are  held  in  high  esteem.  Much  petroleum  is  consumed, 
foreign  stearin  candles,  and  enormous  quantities  of  alcohol.  The  latter  trade 
is  the  principal  industry  of  Bolivian  merchants.  The  Indians  drink  alcohol  by 
the  quart,  and  quantities  are  used  for  cooking  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  fuel. 

I  do  not  think  foreigners  could  compete  with  the  natives  in  making  saddles, 
saddlebags,  and  the  like.  Corrugated  iron  for  roofing  might  be  used  here  with 
advantage.  Roofs  are  made  either  of  straw-thatchery  or  of  tiles.  The  natives 
are  very  fond  of  small,  cheap  toys,  such   as  monkeys   on    sticks,  supple  jacks 


GENERAL.  235 

jack-in-the-boxes,  and  especially  horses  on  wheels.  Dolls  are  in  great  demand. 
Enormous  prices  are  sometimes  paid  for  them.  The  other  day  a  merchant  re- 
fused $60  for  a  doll,  the  price  of  which  he  said  was  $80.  While  the  man  was 
still  in  the  store  the  merchant  let  the  doll  fall  by  accident  and  it  was  broken. 
Dolls  are  either  blondes  or  negroes.  I  have  not  seen  one  brunette  doll  in  Bolivia. 
The  little  Indian  children  love  to  carry  about  pretty  little  yellow-haired  dolls 
on  their  backs,  as  their  mothers  do  their  babies. 

Cheap,  gaudily  colored  lithographs  and  chromos  are  in  great  demand,  espe- 
cially those  representing  religious  subjects.  If  a  picture  contains  a  likeness  of 
the  devil  carrying  a  soul  to  hell,  or  a  lot  of  people  in  purgatory,  it  sells  very 
well.  This  would  be  a  good  market  for  rubber  blankets  and  rubber  pouches, 
but  I  do  not  think  rubber  coats  would  sell  well.  Cheap  wall  papers  are  greatly 
in  demand,  especially  those  having  bright,  flowery  designs.  Besides  the  above, 
a  good  market  would  be  found  for  cheap  gilt  picture  frames,  cheap  mirrors,  and 
in  general  for  articles  usually  found  in  a  "  five-cent  "  store  in  the  States. 

SISAL-HEMP  CULTURE. 

A  good  deal  has  been  said  lately  about  fibers,  and  the  Kennedy 
and  Weicher  extracting  machines  have  attracted  the  attention  of 
many  settlers  at  the  Jamaica  Colonial  Exhibition,  so  we  think  it 
of  high  interest  to  give  the  following  extract  of  the  Bulletin  of  the 
Botanical  Department  of  Jamaica  concerning  the  culture  of  sisal 
hemp : 

Sisal  hemp  is  extracted  in  Yucatan  from  several  plants,  but  the  true  plant 
(Agave  rigida)  is  one  nearly  allied  to  the  koratoe  (Agave  morisii),  a  native  or 
Jamaica. 

The  true  sisal-hemp  plant  exists  under  several  varieties,  but  the  one  which  is 
most  largely  cultivated  is  of  a  grayish-green  color,  with  thorny  spines  on  the 
edges  of  the  leaves  (Agave  rigida  var.  elongata).  The  department,  with  the 
aid  of  the  Government  and  the  British  consul  at  Progreso,  was  able  to  secure 
one  dozen  plants  of  this  variety  from  Yucatan,  but  it  has  been  unable  to  obtain 
any  more,  as  the  planters  there  wish  to  preserve  the  monopoly.  There  are  now 
about  100  plants  at  Hope  Gardens,  and  they  are  being  propagated  as  fast  as 
possible. 

Another  variety  (Agave  rigida  var.  sisalana)  was  very  freely  distributed  in 
the  Bahamas  by  his  excellency  Sir  Henry  Blake,  when  he  was  governor  in  the 
colony.  The  inhabitants  now  see  the  great  importance  of  this  industry,  and 
the  Government  has  been  induced  to  forbid  the  export  of  any  plants  for  three 


236 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


years.  This  variety  is  of  a  dark-green  color  and  has  no  spines  on  the  edges  of 
the  leaves.  The  absence  of  spines  on  the  edges  saves  trouble  and  expense  in 
harvesting.  There  are  a  few  of  these  plants  in  the  Hope  Gardens.  It  has  been 
ascertained  that  this  variety  grows  in  the  Caicos  Islands,  and  his  excellency  Sir 
H.  A.  Blake  has  directed  that  arrangements  shall  be  made  for  the  importation  of 
as  many  as  can  be  obtained.  It  is  expected  that  these  plants  will  arrive  next 
February. 

There  is  another  plant  which  also  yields  a  large  quantity  of  the  sisal  hemp 
exported  from  Yucatan,  namely,  silk  grass  (Furcraa  cubensis.)  There  is  al- 
ready a  large' quantity  of  this  plant  in  Jamacia,  and  there  ought  to  be  no  diffi- 
culty in  planting  out  a  large  area.  However,  it  only  yields  2  to  3  per  cent  of 
fiber,  whereas  the  true  sasil-hemp  plant  yields  4  per  cent.  Another  species  (Fur- 
crcea  giganted)  is  the  Mauritius  hemp  of  commerce. 

Soil. — Any  dry,  poor  land  will  suit  sisal  hemp,  but  rocky,  gravelly  soil  is  the 
best  for  the  production  of  the  finest  fiber.  Moist  land  is  not  suitable,  nor  rich 
land,  like  old  sugar  estates,  for,  though  the  leaves  grow  well  and  fast,  the  fiber  is 
poor  and  small  in  quantity.      Shade  is  prejudicial  even  to  the  young  plants. 

Planting. — Young  plants  are  the  best  for  planting  out,  and  they  should  not 
exceed  2  feet  in  height.  If  the  plants  have  to  be  carried  a  long  distance,  the 
roots  should  not  be  trimmed,  but  when  they  are  planted  out  the  roots  should 
be  cut  off"  down  to  the  trunk,  and  the  dry  leaves  pulled  off.  The  plants  are  put 
out  in  straight  rows,  the  distance  between  the  rows  being  12  feet  and  between 
the  plants  6  feet  in  the  rows.  There  will  then  be  about  600  plants  to  the  acre. 
Roads  running  perpendicular  to  the  rows  may  be  formed  at  intervals  of  10 
chains.  It  is  necessary  to  keep  the  plant  at  this  distance  apart,  for  if  they  are 
too  close  the  leaves  may  be  damaged  in  high  winds,  resulting  in  great  loss  of 
fiber.  Great  care  is  taken  in  Yucatan  to  put  out  the  plants  quite  upright,  and 
stones  are  even  placed  to  support  them  in  a  proper  position,  for  they  grow  as 
they  are  planted.      The  rainy  season  is  the  best  time  for  planting. 

Culture. — The  culture  is  extremely  simple.  No  shade  of  any  kind  is  allowed. 
Bush  is  cut  down  and  trees  taken  up  by  the  roots.  The  young  suckers  are  taken 
off,  and  if  they  are  not  required  for  planting  out  they  are  burnt.  Any  plant  of 
quite  low  growth  may  be  planted  between  the  young  plants  to  give  "catch  crops." 
When  the  plants  are  about  two  years  old  cattle  may  be  turned  in  to  keep  the 
grass  low  and  to  prevent  bush  springing  up.  Sisal-hemp  plants  thrive  better 
without  either  hoeing  or  plowing.  Various  estimates  have  been  found  of  the 
duration  of  the  plants,  but  at  any  rate  they  last  from  twelve  to  thirty  years. 
When  they  show  signs  of  dying  off  new  suckers  are  planted  between  and  thus 
there  need  never  be  a  vacant  spot  in  the  plantation. 

Harvesting. — When    the   leaf    is    ready   for   cutting   it     will    have  inclined 


GENERAL.  237 

toward  a  horizontal  position  and  its  color  will  have  become  darker.  Cutting 
should  commence  from  the  bottom  and  the  leaf  must  be  taken  off  clean  and  as 
close  as  possible  to  the  trunk.  As  soon  as  the  leaf  is  cut  the  prickles  on  the 
edges  and  points  should  be  trimmed  off.  The  leaves  are  then  made  up,  point 
and  base  alternately,  into  bundles  of  fifties  for  delivery  at  the  works.  Thirty 
such  bundles  are  a  day's  work,  but  of  course  more  can  be  done,  if  the  variety 
cultivated  is  without  the  prickles  on  the  sides  of  the  leaves.  The  bundles  are 
placed  on  the  edge  of  the  cart  road,  30  bundles  being  a  load  for  a  dray.  The 
workmen  are  paid  so  much  per  1,000  leaves.  The  time  required  for  the  leaves- 
to  ripen  after  planting  varies  according  to  soil  and  situation  from  two  to  three 
years. 

Extraction  of  Jiber. — The  fiber  should  be  extracted  from  the  leaves  as  soon 
as  they  are  brought  in.  If  left  for  more  than  two  or  three  days  after  cutting  the 
fiber  is  spotted. 

When  the  fiber  is  extracted  by  passing  the  leaf  through  machines,  it  is  hung  on 
drying  stands  in  the  sun  for  about  two  hours  until  it  is  quite  dry.  If  rain  comes 
on  the  fiber  must  be  hung  up  under  cover,  or  it  will  become  discolored.  In  wet 
weather  a  fire  is  kindled  to  warm  the  drying  house,  or  operations  are  suspended. 

The  fiber  is  often  bleached  by  leaving  it  on  the  drying  stands  for  fifty-four 
hours  after  being  dried,  but  it  requires  to  be  constantly  turned.  The  fiber  is 
improved  in  appearance,  but  weighs  less. 

The  drying  stand  is  made  by  erecting  posts  4  feet  high  and  fastening  rails  or 
wire  on  the  top  from  one  to  another. 

The  refuse  from  the  leaves  is  dried  in  the  sun  and  burned. 

Particular  attention  is  paid  in  Yucatan  to  the  operation  of  baling,  and  all  dis- 
colored fiber  is  separated  and  packed  as  a  second  quality.  Even  the  cordage 
used  to  cord  the  bales  of  first  quality  must  be  of  the  same  kind.  The  bales  are 
pressed  either  by  a  screw  or  a  hydraulic  press,  and  great  care  is  taken  to  make 
the  bale  neat-looking  and  of  uniform  weight. 

Machinery. — One  fiber  machine  is  required  for  every  100  acres  of  plants. 

Yield. — Each  plant  should  produce  30  leaves  in  the  year.  If  there  are  600 
plants  to  the  acre,  this  gives  18,000  leaves  per  acre  per  annum.  One  thousand 
leaves  weigh  about  1,500  pounds,  and,  yielding  about  4  per  cent  of  dry  fiber, 
give  60  pounds  of  hemp.  Thus  each  acre  should  yield  about  half  a  ton  of  hemp 
per  annum. 

DRIED  BANANAS 

Drying  bananas  for  shipment  has  been  tested  in  Trinidad,  West 
Indies,  with  marked  success.     A  report  received  by  the  Bureau  of 


238  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

American  Republics  sets  forth  that  the  cost  of  producing  a  bunch 
of  bananas  weighing  52  pounds,  including  the  purchase  of  land, 
clearing,  draining,  planting,  weeding,  cutting,  drying,  fuel,  boxes, 
and  packing  for  market,  would  average  only  53  cents.  The  fruit 
in  drying  loses  one-third  of  its  weight.  When  dried  it  sells  readily 
at  16  cents  a  pound.  Allowing  for  the  loss  of  weight  this  would 
yield  $2.72  a  bunch,  a  clear  profit  for  the  grower  of  $2.19.  An 
order  for  several  hundredweight  of  the  dried  fruit  at  6d.  (12 
cents)  a  pound  for  the  London  market  has  been  received  at  Trini- 
dad. Even  at  this  price  a  handsome  profit  would  be  realized. 
An  actual  sale  of  nearly  100  boxes  of  the  dried  fruit  has  recently 
been  made  in  Canada  at  20  cents  a  pound,  and  the  Canadians  are 
asking  for  more  at  the  same  price.  Deducting  freight  charges  the 
net  price  was  16  cents.  The  variety  of  banana  which  yields  the 
best  result  is  said  to  be  the  "  Gros  Michel."  Over  100,000  plants 
have  been  distributed  in  Trinidad  and  Tobago  within  the  last 
two  years.  The  purchasers  were  principally  large  planters,  and 
there  is  every  indication  that  the  industry  will  be  pursued  on  an 
extensive  scale,  and  that  dried  bananas  will  soon  be  an  important 
item  in  the  commerce  of  the  West  Indies.  The  dried  fruit  can 
be  conveyed  to  market  from  remote  districts  over  bad  roads  with- 
out injury,  and  the  risks  of  handling  and  of  the  sea  voyage  are 
reduced  to  a  minimum.  •,  This  is  an  entirely  new  and  valuable 
industry.  The  banana  is  the  most  productive  of  all  fruits.  Once 
planted  it  perpetuates  itself  and  the  trouble  is  often  to  get  rid  of  it. 
Its  productiveness  is  stated  to  be  forty-four  times  greater  than  that 
of  the  potato,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  times  greater  than 
wheat.  The  driers  in  operation  are  found  to  do  their  work  well. 
Care  is  taken  to  select  bananas  of  as  nearly  as  possible  the  same 
size  for  convenience  of  packing,  and  to  secure  uniformity  of  color. 
The  dried  product  is  not  only  palatable  as  a  fruit,  but  it  is  a  most 
nutritious  article  of  food.  There  is  practically  no  limit  to  the 
amount  that  can  be  produced. 


GENERAL.  239 

PANAMA  SAMPLE  ROOM. 

Samuel  Boyd,  the  editor  of  the  Panama  Star  and  Herald,  who 
has  spent  most  of  his  life  on  the  Isthmus,  and  is  probably  as 
familiar  with  the  commercial  interests  of  Central  and  South 
America  as  any  man,  makes  a  valuable  suggestion  to  the  Bureau 
of  the  American  Republics.  He  advises  the  manufacturers  of 
the  United  States  who  desire  to  extend  their  export  trade  in 
Central  and  South  America  to  establish  in  the  city  of  Panama 
a  sample  room  or  exposition,  where  their  goods  can  be  placed  on 
exhibition.  The  merchants  from  the  west  coast  of  Central  and 
South  America  must  necessarily  pass  through  Panama  on  their 
way  to  and  from  Europe,  and  they  are  generally  detained  there 
for  several  days  because  of  irregular  steamship  connections.  Such 
a  sample  room  would  offer  them  an  opportunity  to  examine  into 
the  character,  quality,  and  price  of  merchandise  to  be  obtained  in 
the  United  States,  and  would,  no  doubt,  in  many  cases,  divert 
buyers  from  Europe  to  this  country.  Mr.  Boyd  asserts  that  in 
nearly  every  article  of  common  use  the  manufacturers  of  the 
United  States  can  compete  with  those  of  Europe,  not  only  in 
quality  but  in  price,  and  that  the  export  trade  of  this  country 
might  be  enormously  increased  were  adequate  means  taken  to 
introduce  our  goods  among  the  buyers  of  the  southern  continent. 
Mr.  Boyd  offers  to  personally  advise  and  assist  any  merchants  or 
manufacturers  who  desire  to  establish  such  a  sample  room. 

THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  SOUTH  AMERICAN  TRADE. 

[From  the  South  American  Journal.] 

The  commercial  policy  of  the  United  States,  as  shadowed  forth 
in  the  McKinley  act,  seems'  destined  to  exercise  an  important  in- 
fluence on  the  trade  of  this  country.  It  has  already,  during  the 
past  year,  shown  that  the  United  States  is  capable  of  following 
up  to  a  considerable  extent  the  self-containing  principle,  which,  in 


24O  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

other  countries,  would  mean  commercial  ruin,  and,  though  success 
has  not  been  altogether  unqualified,  the  adoption  of  the  policy 
has  yet  had  an  appreciable  effect  in  checking  the  trading  move- 
ment between  the  two  hemispheres.  There  are  certainly  plenty 
of  reasons  in  explanation  of  the  contraction  of  British  trade  with 
the  United  States,  not  the  least  convincing  being  the  fact  that 
the  heavy  shipments  immediately  before  the  application  of  the 
McKinley  tariff  naturally  resulted  in  a  subsequent  quietude 
through  the  accumulation  of  stocks.  It  is  pretty  evident,  there- 
fore, that  during  the  present  year  there  must  be  a  slight  recovery 
in  British  trade  with  America,  though  the  most  sanguine  prophet 
can  scarcely  anticipate  that  it  will  very  soon  occupy  the  position 
which  it  formerly  held.  This  unfortunate  circumstance  is  one 
over  which  the  British  manufacturer  has  no  control.  He  can  only 
do  his  best  with  what  remains  of  his  connection  with  the  United 
States,  and  improve  his  position  with  the  markets  already  open  to 
him.  It  therefore  becomes  imperative  that  the  United  States 
should  not  be  permitted  to  further  encroach  upon  the  domain  of 
British  commerce  without  a  very  strong  effort  being  made  to  pre- 
serve British  interests.  Such  an  encroachment  is  threatened  by  the 
following  out  of  the  policy  of  Mr.  Blaine,  to  constitute  the  Repub- 
lics of  South  America  into  commercial  dependencies  of  the  United 
States.  The  whole  of  South  America,  with  the  exception  of  one 
or  two  States  who  remain  obdurate  to  the  blandishments  of  Mr. 
Blaine,  are  to  be  formed  in*-o  a  sort  of  commercial  union  with  the 
North  American  Republic,  and  this  is  to  be  accomplished  by  the 
negotiation  of  treaties  which  are  so  skillfully  drawn  up  as  to  leave 
all  advantage  to  the  northern  manufacturers.  These  latter  are 
put  in  possession  of  an  extensive  and  profitable  market  for  their 
wares,  a  market  that  can  not  fail,  with  the  growing  requirements 
of  home  consumers,  to  make  the  manufacturing  industries  of  the 
United  States  exceedingly  prosperous.  In  return  for  this  advan- 
tage, the  South  American  Republics  are  permitted  to  send  their 


GENERAL.  24I 

agricultural  produce  into  the  United  States  under  favored  condi- 
tions, but  these  conditions  are  by  no  means  so  favored  as  to  enable 
the  products  of  South  America  to  enter  into  successful  competi- 
tion with  those  of  the  United  States.  It  is  this  somewhat  one-sided 
arrangement  that  carries  with  it  the  conviction  that  the  treaties  are 
not  destined  to  last  very  long.  Where  British  manufacturers  have 
an  opportunity  of  asserting  their  interests  it  is  not  likely  that  they 
will  be  backward  in  so  doing,  and  their  efforts  in  regaining  the 
position  which  they  have  lost  will  certainly  be  facilitated  by  the 
natural  disinclination  of  the  South  American  Republics  to  accord 
to  the  United  States  the  lion's  share  of  their  trade. 

A  more  legitimate  method  which  the  United  States  is  adopting 
for  the  monopoly  of  South  American  trade  is  the  institution  of  a 
Bureau  of  American  Republics.  This  Bureau  was  established  in 
1890,  and  its  first  report  has  just  been  issued.  It  shows  that  the 
success  of  this  new  institution  was  prompt  and  striking,  and  the 
ends  that  are  being  attained  through  its  medium  should  make 
British  manufacturers  reflect  upon  their  position.  The  Bureau  is 
to  be  maintained  at  an  expenditure  of  not  more  than  ^7,200  per 
annum.  It  is  under  the  supervision  of  the  Secretary  of  State — 
United  States — and  is  established  for  ten  years,  a  period  which 
may  be  successively  renewed  if  found  to  be  to  the  advantage 
of  the  countries  concerned.  The  countries  comprised  in  the 
association  are  the  Argentine  Republic,  Bolivia,  Brazil,  Chile, 
Colombia,  Costa  Rica,  Ecuador,  Guatemala,  Hayti,  Honduras, 
Mexico,  Nicarauga,  Paraguay,  Peru,  Salvador,  the  United  States, 
Uruguay,  and  Venezuela.  The  favor  with  which  the  idea  of  the 
Bureau  was  received  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  upon  its  inception 
there  was  no  fewer  than  thirty-eight  thousand  applications  for  bul- 
letins received  from  the  United  States  alone,  while  a  similar  num- 
ber was  forthcoming  from  the  other  Republics.  There  were  like- 
wise, during  the  first  four  months,  seven  hundred  inquiries  for 
specific  information  upon  commercial   matters,  and  such  inquiries 

Bull.  41 16 


242  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

have  continued  since  that  date  without  intermission.  Among 
these  applications  a  large  proportion  came  from  makers  of  agricul- 
tural machinery,  railway  material,  mining  implements,  and  hard- 
wares, for  information  as  to  transport  charges,  and  hints  to  enable 
them  to  adapt  their  goods  to  the  requirements  of  particular  mar- 
kets. In  this  way  manufacturers  who  had  hitherto  done  nothing 
with  the  South  American  markets,  now  have  a  good  connection, 
and  the  exports  from  the  United  States  to  the  south  have  grown 
steadily.  It  has  indeed  been  found  necessary  to  establish  three 
new  lines  of  steamships  between  the  United  States  and  the  ports 
of  South  America.  Another  invaluable  aid  to  the  development 
of  commerce  between  the  two  divisions  of  the  American  continent 
is  the  institution  by  the  Bureau  of  a  commercial  directory,  and 
this  has  already  done  a  great  deal  toward  forming  connections 
between  manufacturers  in  the  north  and  consumers  in  the  south- 
The  Bureau  has  also  issued  a  number  of  handbooks  giving  a 
mass  of  valuable  information  upon  commerce,  coinage,  weights, 
and  measures,  and  other  matters,  a  knowledge  of  which  is  essential 
to  international  trade.  It  is  obvious  therefore  that  the  Bureau  is 
established  upon  lines  that  can  not  fail  to  have  excellent  results  for 
the  trade  of  the  United  States.  It  is  peculiarly  comprehensive, 
embracing  nearly  every  source  of  information  serviceable  to  the 
manufacturer  and  consumer,  and  it  moreover  takes  an  active  part 
in  bringing  the  manufacturer  and  consumer  into  close  touch  for 
their  common  interests.  Its  efficiency  is  displayed  in  the  first 
report  which  it  has  yet  issued,  a  report  the  most  valuable  of  any 
that  have  been  published  for  many  years. 

The  most  instructive  feature  of  the  report  to  British  manufactur- 
ers is  that  part  which  deals  with  a  distinct  development  of  United 
States  trade  with  certain  South  American  republics  to  the  preju- 
dice of  British  interests.  One  striking  example  of  this  is  afforded 
by  Mexico,  where,  hitherto,  British  manufacturers  have  found 
an  excellent  connection.     The  country,  too,  allows  of  so  many 


GENERAL.  243 

possibilities  in  the  future  that  Mexico  has  long  been  regarded  as  a 
market  capable  of  considerable  development.  It  is  not,  therefore, 
very  encouraging  to  find  that  the  merchants  of  Mexico  and  the 
cities  of  Central  and  South  America  who  have  heretofore  pur- 
chased their  goods  in  Europe  exclusively  are  now  coming  to  the 
United  States,  and  invariably  discover  that  they  can  find  here 
nearly  every  article  they  need  of  a  better  quality  and  at  a  price  as 
low  as  can  be  obtained  in  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  France; 
and  the  recently  negotiated  reciprocity  arrangements  afford  them 
advantages  that  are  beginning  to  be  understood  and  appreciated. 
A  specific  instance  is  given  of  an  agent  of  one  of  the  largest  estab- 
lishments in  Brazil  who,  while  on  his  way  through  the  United 
States  to  Europe,  found  that  he  could  make  a  better  bargain  there 
both  as  to  price  and  quality ;  he  accordingly  bought  goods  to  the 
value  of  several  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which  were  to  have 
been  supplied  by  Great  Britain.  Such  instances  as  these  can  not 
be  overlooked  by  manufacturers  in  this  country.  With  improv- 
ing transport  facilities  between  North  and  South  America  it  is 
evident  that  the  United  States  will  before  long  be  in  a  better 
position  to  compete  for  South  American  custom  than  Great  Brit- 
ain is  at  this  moment ;  indeed,  the  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Amer- 
ican Republics  would  seem  to  show  that  the  United  States  is 
already  in  this  favored  position,  and  that,  having  once  passed  the 
line  of  equality  in  competitive  opportunities,  the  United  States 
will  go  on  improving  her  position  to  the  destruction  of  British 
interest  in  South  America.  Happily  this  is  a '  contingency  that 
need  not  be  anticipated  with  too  much  foreboding.  What  the 
United  States  can  do  Great  Britain  is  surely  capable  of  doing 
equally  well.  If  the  United  States  can  increase  its  business  con- 
nection by  sheer  force  of  enterprise  Great  Britain  is  certainly  able 
to  retaliate  with  the  same  weapon,  and  prevent  North  America 
from  monopolizing  more  than  its  legitimate  share  of  trade  in 
the  South.     It  has  now  become  absolutely  imperative  that  the 


244-  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

manufacturers  of  Great  Britain  should  bestir  themselves.  They  are 
gifted  with  as  active  a  spirit  of  enterprise  as  are  their  competitors 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  it  would  be  strange  indeed 
if  they  submitted  to  expulsion  from  South  America  without 
making  a  bold  fight.  Their  success  should  be  assured  by  the 
possession  of  a  valuable  weapon,  which  should  serve  them  good 
stead.  Their  interests  in  South  America  are  not  created  by  them- 
selves ;  they  are  the  outcome  of  the  enormous  amount  of  British 
capital  invested  in  the  South  American  republics,  and  it  is  this 
capital  which  will  constitute  the  bulwark  of  the  British  commercial 
position  in  South  America. 

The  imports  of  coffee  into  the  United  States  in  1866  aggre- 
gated 175,794,000  pounds;  in  1870  it  had  increased  to  231,173,000 
pounds ;  in  1 880  to  440, 1 28,000  pounds,  and  in  1 889  to  56 1 , 1 32,- 
000  pounds.  In  1890,  owing  to  scanty  and  high  prices,  the  im- 
portation dropped  to  490, 1 6 1 ,000  pounds.  I  n  1 866  the  consump- 
tion averaged  4.96  pounds  per  capita  of  population ;  in  1889  this 
average  had  increased  to  9. 16  pounds,  dropping  off  to  7.83  pounds 
in  1890. 

A  certain  firm  in  Pennsylvania,  manufacturing  iron  chain,  ap- 
plied to  the  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  for  information 
as  to  the  importation  and  duties  of  iron  chain  in  Brazil.  The  in- 
formation having  been  furnished,  the  following  reply  was  received : 

We  have  been  much  gratified  with  the  contents  of  your  letter  as  it  indicates 
that  on  many  kinds  of  chain  the  United  States  will  be  able  to  make  such  prices  in 
Brazil  that  it  will  impossible  for  England  and  Germany  to  compete,  when  we 
get  the  same  shipping  facilities  as  those  countries  possess. 

A  very  important  discovery  has  been  reported  to  the  Bureau  of 
American  Republics.  A  mine  of  coal  of  very  fair  quality  for  steam- 
ing purposes  has  been  found  by  accident  in  the  Straits  of  Magel- 
lan. Signor  Fossetti,  the  captain  of  an  Italian  steamer,  was  com- 
pelled to  anchor  in  Shagnet  Bay,  to  make  some  repairs,  and 
while  there  he  discovered  coal  very  near  the  surface.     Reaching 


GENERAL.  245 

Valparaiso  he  sent  a  corps  of  experts  to  the  scene  of  the  discovery 
in  a  steam  launch,  who  found  that  the  coal  was  not  only  abundant 
but  of  excellent  quality.  The  importance  of  the  discovery  to  the 
commerce  of  the  world  can  only  be  appreciated  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  all  steamers  passing  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan 
are  required  to  coal  there,  and  that  the  supply  has  heretofore  been 
brought  from  Cardiff,  Wales. 

TRADE  OPPORTUNITIES. 

Messrs.  A.  Schreiber  and  G.  C.  Power  were  sent  by  Stuyvesant 

Fish,  esq.,  president  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  to  Mexico, 

Central  and  South  America  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  and 

reporting  upon  the  opportunities  of  extending  the  trade  of  this 

country  in  that  direction.     The  following  is  the  report  submitted 

by  these  gentlemen  : 

New  Orleans,  La.,  July  22,  7<9pi. 

Dear  Sir.:  In  compliance  with  the  instructions  contained  in  your  letters  or 
the  4th  of  February  and  9th  of  March  last,  we  sailed  from  New  Orleans  on  the 
12th  of  March,  proceeded  first  to  Havana,  Cuba.  Our  itinerary  thence  took 
us  via  Progreso  (Yucatan),  Orizaba,  and  Vera  Cruz,  to  Mexico  City,  from 
which  point  we  reached  the  Pacific  coast  at  San  Bias,  taking  in  our  way  the 
important  interior  city  of  Guadalajara.  Turning  southward  from  San  Bias  and 
touching  at  the  ports  of  Manzanillo  and  Acapulco  (Mexico),  and  Champerico 
(Guatemala),  we  landed  at  San  Jose  and  visited  Guatemala  City  ;  reembarking 
at  San  Jose,  we  continued  our  journey  southward,  touched  at  Acajutla,  La  Liber- 
tad,  and  La  Union  (Salvador),  and  Punta  Arenas  (Costa  Rica),  and  reached 
Panama,  whence  we  followed  to  Guayaquil  (Ecuador)  and  via  the  Peruvian  ship- 
ping points,  Payta,  Eten,  Pacasmayo,  Pimentel  Salaverri,  and  Samanco,  to 
Callao  and  Lima.  The  disturbed  condition  of  affairs  in  Chile  rendering  a  visit 
to  that  country,  from  a  business  point  of  view,  unadvisable  for  the  present,  we 
retraced  our  steps  to  Panama,  crossed  the  Isthmus  and  proceeded  to  Laguayra 
and  Caracas  (Venezuela),  returning  by  way  of  Barranquilla  and  Cartagena 
(Colombia),  from  which  latter  point  we  took  a  steamer  direct  to  New  Orleans, 
where  we  landed  on  the  12th  inst.,  having  been  absent  exactly  four  months. 

A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  the  above-sketched  tour  covers  the  sec- 
tion of  Spanish  America  that  may  be  claimed  as  tributary  to  Chicago,  in  so  far 
as  its  trade  with  the  United  States  is  concerned. 

The    favorable    position    of   New   Orleans    (the    outport    of    Chicago)    with 


246 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


reference  to  Cuba,  the  eastern  coasts  of  Mexico  and  Central  America,  and  the 
northern  coast  of  Colombia  and  Venezuela,  as  far  east  as  Laguayra,  is  incon- 
testable ;  and  it  is  evident  that  for  the  traffic  of  the  west  coast  of  Mexico  and 
Central  and  South  America  that  crosses  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  Chicago  via 
New  Orleans  is  the  shortest  line.  Chile  is,  commercially,  nearer  to  Europe 
than  to  the  United  States,  much  better  rates  of  freight  being,  as  a  rule,  obtain- 
able, say,  to  Liverpool  or  Hamburg  direct  via  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  than  to 
New  Orleans  or  New  York  with  transfer  across  Panama;  and  the  west  coast  of 
Mexico  from  Acapulco  northward  may  possibly  trade  more  advantageously 
with  San  Francisco  than  with  any  of  our  Atlantic  or  Gulf  ports. 

The  value  of  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  with  the  countries  visited  by 
us  is  stated  as  follows  in  the  Treasury  Department's  report  for  the  fiscal  year 
ending  30th  of  June,  1  390,  viz.: 


Imports  from. 

Exports  to. 

Cuba 

Dollars. 
53,  801,  591 
22,  69O,  915 
IO,  966,  765 

8,  052,  444 

3.575.253 
351,695 

535,  060 

Dollars. 
12,  669,  509 
12,  666,  108 

Mexico 

Venezuela 

3,  984,  280 
5,  104,  275 

2,  522,351 

I,  418,  561 

7M,  924 

Central  American  States 

Ecuador 

Total 

99,  973,  723 

39,  OSO,  O08 

The  "Hand  Book"  published  by  the  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics,  at 
Washington,  in  January,  1891,  states  the  value  of  imports  and  exports  of  the 
above-named  countries  as  follows; 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Dollars. 
53,  124,000 
44,  50O,  OOO 
11,054,  860 

4.94L  I42 

1,  215,  OOO 

1,459.280 
4,401,873 

2,  OO8,  844 

8,  220,  782 
6,052,  313 

6,  757.  656 

Dollars. 
74,  560,  OOO 

44.457.075 

II,  817,  767 

9,  247,  104 

i,  296,  OOO 

1,034,960 
4,  860,  829 
3.831.322 
11,  251,  563 
6,  201.  ;-J>) 
5.52L327 

Dollars. 
127,684,000 

88,957,075 
22,  S72,  627 

14.  i8S,246 

2,  511.000 

2,  494,  240 

9,  262,  702 

5,  840,  166 

19,472,345 

12.  254.  042 

12,  278,  9S3 

Venezuela 

Honduras 

N  icaratf  ua 

Costa  Rica 

Peru 

Total 

143.  735.  75o 

174,079,676            TI7.  815.  .126 

GENERAL.  247 

A  comparison  of  the  above  figures  show  that  we  receive  (in  round  numbers) 
58  per  cent  of  the  exports  of  the  countries  named,  and  we  supply  them  wirh  27 
per  cent  only  of  their  imports;  and  it  is  fair  to  conclude  that,  while  ample 
room  remains  for  the  extension  of  our  import  trade  with  our  Spanish- American 
neighbor,  our  export  trade  is  yet  to  be  built  up. 

It  is  alleged  in  explanation  of  the  inferior  position  of  American  as  compared 
with  European  sellers  on  Latin-American  markets,  that  our  merchants  and 
manufacturers  have  made  no  effort  to  develop  business  in  that  direction;  and 
that  while  German,  French,  British,  and  Italians  are  represented  everywhere  by 
active  agents,  who  have  carefully  studied  the  requirements  of  consumers,  and 
know  the  class  and  style  of  goods  adapted  to  every  locality,  Americans  are  rarely 
seen,  and  apparently  abandon  the  field  to  their  foreign  competitors — this  in  face 
of  the  intense  and  unanimous  desire  of  Spanish-Americans  to  establish  close 
commercial  relations  with  the  United  States.  The  allegation  is  founded  upon 
undeniable  fact;  but  it  would  be  hasty  to  conclude,  therefrom,  that  our  people 
lose  from  want  of  enterprise  and  business  sagacity  a  trade  of  which,  by  reason 
of  their  advantage  of  position,  they  should  get  the  lion's  share.  Much  of  the 
superiority  which  we  can  claim  from  greater  proximity  and  from  cheaper  pro- 
duction of  the  leading  articles  imported  by  Spanish  America,  is  offset  by  the 
policy  which  obtains  in  the  management  of  the  lines  of  transportation  now 
uniting  our  country  with  the  neighboring  Republics,  a  policy  which  seems  to 
look  more  to  the  maintenance  of  monopolies  than  to  the  stimulation  and  devel- 
opment of  business. 

Under  the  present  condition  of  things,  the  suggestion  of  a  connection  with 
Chicago  through  lines  of  steamers  via  New  Orleans,  wherever  it  was  made  by 
your  representatives,  met,  as  might  have  been  expected,  with  an  almost  enthu- 
siastic  response. 

Such  connection,  if  taken  hold  of  by  a  trading  company,  controlling  its  own 
transportation,  could  hardly  fail  to  lead  to  favorable  results. 

Cuba  and  Mexico. — First  in  importance,  from  the  point  of  view  of  direct  re- 
lations between  Chicago  and  Spanish  America,  comes  our  trade  with  Cuba  and 
Mexico. 

The  large  percentage  (71)  of  the  export  trade  of  Cuba  which  comes  to  us  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  we  buy  nearly  the  entire  sugar  crop  of  the  island  (600,000 
tons) ;  this  item  alone  amounts  to  $40,000,000 — tobacco,  copper  ores,  fruit, 
and  other  articles,  aggregating  $13,000,000  in  value.  On  the  other  hand, 
Cuba  buys  from  us  23  per  cent  only  of  its  imports.  This  discrepancy  is  chiefly 
attributable  to  the  "differential  duties"  established  and  maintained  to  favor 
Spanish  producers.  Under  this  system  it  has  been  found  possible  to  ship  Amer- 
ican flour  to  Barcelona  and  thence  to   Havana,  where  it  was  sold  at  a  profit  as 


248  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Spanish  flour;  should  reciprocity  do  away  with  the  system,  there  is  little  doubt 
that  the  bulk  of  Cuba's  supply  of  flour  would  be  taken  from  the  United  States; 
and  the  importance  of  the  market  may  be  inferred  from  the  statement  that  the 
arrivals  at  Havana,  in  January,  1891,  alone,  included  40,000,000  barrels.  Lard 
and  hog  products  are  in  steady  and  large  demand;  also  machinery,  coal,  rail- 
way supplies,  agricultural  and  mining  implements,  nails,  lumber,  etc.,  all  of 
which  might  be  furnished  advantageously  by   Chicago. 

Our  proportion  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  Mexico  is  51  per  cent  of  exports 
and  28  per  cent  of  imports.  During  the  last  fiscal  year  we  received  from  Mexico 
ores  to  the  amount  of  $7,800,000;  sisal  grass  (36,500  tons),  representing  in 
value  $5,300,000;  coffee  (10,300  tons),  representing  in  value  $3,500,000; 
goatskins  and  hides,  $1,600,000;  vanilla  beans,  $515,000;  fruit,  spices,  gums, 
cabinet  and  dyewoods,  making  up  a  total  of  $22,690,000. 

In  return  we  shipped  to  Mexico:  Animals  (hogs,  beeves,  horses),  $891,000; 
corn  (961,000  bushels),  $481,000;  flour  (31,000  barrels),  $165,000;  machin- 
ery, $845,000;  railway  cars,  carriages,  $622,000;  coal,  $398,000;  agricultural 
implements,  hardware,  sewing  machines,  $496,000;  cotton  goods,  $470,000; 
lumber,  $561,000;  timber  (sawed  and  hewn),  $322,000;  malt  liquors,$240,ooo; 
lard  and  other  oils,  $265,000;  chemicals  and  drugs,  $251,000;  saws  and  tools, 
$161,000;  locomotive  engines  (24),  $171,000;  stationary  engines  (45),  $35,000; 
wire  (3,335,644  pounds),  amounting  to  $129,000;  manufactures  of  iron  and 
steel,  $553,000;  tallow  (5,025,258  pounds),  $246,000;  hams  (834,997  pounds, 
$255,000;  cotton  (unmanufactured,  26,474  bales),  $1,217,805,  and  butter, 
cheese,  and  miscellaneous  articles  aggregating  about  $1,500,000. 

The  distribution  of  our  trade  with  Cuba  is  as  follows : 

Imports:  New  York,  $28,286,124;  Philadelphia,  $13,314,598;  Boston, 
$6,383,762;  other  Atlantic  ports,  $878,639;  total  for  Atlantic  ports,  $48,- 
703,123.  New  Orleans,  $1,794,813;  Key  West,  $1,084,810;  other  Gulf 
ports,  $448,598;  total  for  gulf  ports,  $3,328,221.  Pacific  ports,  $587,974; 
northern  border  and  lake  ports,  $861,326;  interior  ports,  $320,947. 

Exports:  New  York,  $10,534,036;   Philadelphia,  $974,917;  other  Atlantic 

ports,  $312,583;   total  Atlantic  ports,  $11,831,536.      New  Orleans,  $ ; 

other  gulf  ports,  $837,973.  (The  exports  from  New  Orleans  being  by  the 
Morgan  line  of  steamers  via  Key  West,  are  included  in  the  amount  [$420,435] 
credited  to  the  latter  port.) 

The  demand  arising  from  the  requirements  of  eastern  sugar  refineries  ac- 
counts, in  a  great  measure,  for  the  startling  disproportion,  shown  in  the  above 
figures,  between  the  imports  of  Atlantic  and  those  of  gulf  ports. 

But,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  most  of  the  articles  forming  the  object  of  our  ex- 


GENERAL.  249 

port  trade  are  raised  or  produced  within  reach  of  Chicago,  it  seems  an  anomaly 
that  that  trade  should  be  entirely  in  the  hands  of  New  York. 

The  following  is  the  distribution  of  our  commerce  with  Mexico: 

Imports:  New  York,  $8,280,255;  other  Atlantic  ports,  $477,936;  total 
Atlantic  ports,  $8,758,186.  New  Orleans,  $2,567,960;  Paso  del  Norte, 
$4,983,197;  Corpus  Christi,  $2,606,770;  Saluria  (Tex.)  $1,433,072;  Teche 
(La.),  $1,005,365;  other  gulf  ports,  $389,737;  total  gulf  ports,  $12,986,101. 
Pacific  ports,  $941,527;  border  and  lake  ports,  $3,325;  interior  ports, $1,876. 

Exports:  New  York,  $4,222,740;  other  Atlantic  ports,  $38,228;  total  At- 
lantic ports,  $4,260,968.  New  Orleans,  $504,565;  Corpus  Christi,  $3,090,- 
561;  Pensacola,  $1,625,902;  other  gulf  ports,  $1,320,813;  total  gulf  ports, 
$6,542,201.  San  Francisco,  $1,564,731;  other  Pacific  ports,  $298,208;  total 
Pacific  ports,  $1,862,939. 

From  the  above  figures  the  gulf  ports  would  appear  to  get  the  larger  share  of 
the  Mexican  trade.  If,  however,  we  deduct  from  the  imports,  the  value  of 
ores  that  come  overland  to  Texas  points,  and  from  the  exports  the  value  of 
cotton  which  is  shipped  partly  from  New  Orleans  via  Galveston  and  partly 
overland  or  via  Brazos  Santiago,  and  Corpus  Christi,  it  will  appear  that  New 
York  holds  a  preponderating  position  in  the  general  commerce  of  the  United 
States  with  its  neighboring  republics. 

Three  lines  of  steamers  connect  the  United  States  with  Cuban  and  Mexican 
ports,  viz : 

(1)  The  New  York  and  Cuba  Mail  Steamship  Company  (Ward  Line),  semi- 
weekly  service  between  New  York  and  Havana,  Santiago  de  Cuba  and  Cienfue- 
gos;   weekly  service  between  New  York  and  Progreso  and  Vera  Cruz. 

(2)  The  Plant  Investment  Company  (Plant  Line),  semiweekly  service  be- 
tween Port  Tampa,  Fla.,  and   Havana. 

(3)  The  Morgan  line,  semiweekly  service  between  New  Orleans  and  Ha- 
vana, from  December  to  May;  monthly  service  between  New  Orleans  and 
Vera  Cruz,  from  November  to  May.  The  steamers  cease  their  service  from 
and  after  the  1st  of  May,  when  the  quarantine  season  commences. 

The  Plant  Line  does  an  almost  exclusively  passenger  business,  and,  having 
well-appointed  steamers  that  make  the  run  from  Port  Tampa  to  Havana  in 
twenty-five  hours,  is  well  patronized  by  those  American  tourists  who  prefer  to 
avoid  a  long  sea  voyage. 

The  Morgan  steamers  are  old-fashioned  side-wheel  boats,  of  fair  carrying 
capacity,  and  having  neat  accommodations  for  passengers,  but  slow. 

The  whole  field,  therefore,  may  be  said  to  be  occupied  by  the  Ward  Line,  a 
well  equipped,  well  managed,  and  in  every  respect  a  first-class  line. 


250 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


There  is,  however,  reason  to  believe  that  the  current  of  trade  might  be  diverted 
from  New  York  to  Chicago.  A  line  of  steamers  between  New  Orleans  and 
Havana,  Progreso  and  Vera  Cruz,  run  in  connection  with  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad,  would  save  between  600  and  800  miles  in  distance,  as  compared  with 
New  York,  and  both  for  exports  and  imports  place  Chicago  at  advantage. 
There  is  no  doubt,  moreover,  that  our  export  trade  with  Cuba  and  Mexico 
would,  by  well-directed  efforts,  be  largely  increased.  Strong  agencies  established 
at  Havana  and  Mexico  City,  carrying  fair  stocks  of  the  most  current  articles  of 
sale,  and  provided  with  samples,  catalogues,  and  price  lists  of  others,  such  as 
agricultural  implements,  miners'  tools  and  mining  machinery,  cutlery,  glassware, 
calicoes,  cement,  barbed  wire,  etc.,  would  doubtless  effect  considerable  sales, 
while  they  influenced  or  controlled  return  shipments  of  sugar,  coffee,  and  other 
tropical  products.  With  a  proper  service,  the  fruit  trade  with  Havana  and 
Vera  Cruz  could  be  developed  to  immense  proportions.  The  agencies  should 
combine  with  their  purely  commercial  character  that  of  banking  and  express 
companies. 

It  is  stated  that  during  the  months  of  January,  February,  and  March  of  this 
year  the  city  of  Havana  was  visited  by  30,000  American  tourists.  Assuming 
that  at  least  an  equal  number  went  to  Mexico,  and  estimating  the  total  move- 
ment for  the  year  at  75,000  travelers,  a  wide  margin  appears  for  profit  on  nego- 
tiations of  letters  of  credit,  change  of  United  States  for  Spanish  American 
money,  and  vice  versa,  care  and  transfer  of  baggage,  etc. 

Central  America. — The  Central  American  States  (Costa  Rica,  Guatemala, 
Honduras,  Nicaragua,  and  Salvador)  have  an  export  trade,  in  round  figures,  of 
§20,000,000,  of  which  the  United  States  received  $8,000,000;  and  an  import 
trade  of  $16,000,000,  our  share  of  which  is  $5,000,000,  the  distribution  of  the 
traffic  being  as  follows,  viz: 


Costa  Rica. 

Atlantic  ports 

Gulf  ports 

Pacific  ports 

Interior  ports 

Total 

Guatemala. 

Atlantic  ports 

Gulf  ports 

Pacific  ports 

Total 


Imports  fYom.      Exports  to 


Dollars . 
8lO,  ICO 
129,  857 

736,513 
241 


[,676,711 


l,Ol6,  137 

1.223,593 


2,281,681 


Dollars. 
717,819 
179,219 
201,  gi4 


1,098,952 


4".  -,7'» 
620,  648 


326,388 


GENERAL. 


251 


Imports  from. 

Exports  to. 

Honduras. 

Dollars. 
274,  646 
209,  728 

Dollars. 
294,  782 
I42,  961 

84,  888 

30 

Total 

984,  404 

522,  631 

Nicaragua. 

I,  198,  492 

453,  162 

4,036 

909,  047 

264,  537 

96,  489 

Total 

1,655,690 

1,270,073 

Salvador. 

Atlantic  ports 

489,  321 

513,  173 

Gulf  ports 

373,058 

Total 

1,453,958 

886,  231 

Grand  total  . . 

8,  052,  444 

5,  104,  275 

The  nature  and  value  of  our  chief  imports  from  Central  America  are  as  fol- 
lows : 

Coftee,  $5,313,519;  fruit,  $1,352,094;  India  rubber,  $683,377;  hides, 
$379,970;  cabinet  woods,  $63,616;  dyewoods,  $57,888 ;  indigo,  $39,032. 

And  the  leading  articles  of  exports  are : 

Flour  (169,000  barrels),  $751,000;  cotton  goods,  $425,000;  firearms, 
$200,000;  sewing  machines,  $89,000;  malt  liquors,  $86,000;  railway  cars, 
$69,000;  horses,  $17,000;  besides  stoves  and  ranges,  lard,  bacon,  hams,  can- 
ned meats,  wine,  lumber,  lamps,  illuminating  oils,  butter,  cheese,  refined  sugar, 
etc. 

This  trade  may  be  said  to  be  controlled  by  three  ports : — New  York,  New 
Orleans,  and  San  Francisco — communications  being  established  with  the  Atlan- 
tic Coast  by  numerous  lines  of  steamers  and  with  the  Pacific  Coast  by  the 
Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company  and  the  Panama  Railroad  Company. 

Of  the  ports  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Central  America,  one  only,  Port  Limon 
(Costa  Rica),  is  connected  by  rail  with  the  interior  country;  on  the  west  coast 
Champerico  and  San  Jose  (Guatemala)  have  short  lines  running  to  Retalhuleu 
(27  miles)  and  to  Guatemala  (72  miles);  Acajutla  (Salvador)  is  the  terminus 
of  a  road  now  completed  to  Sonsonate  (15  miles)  and  being  rapidly  constructed 
in  the  direction  of  Am&te  Marin  (80  miles).  In  Nicaragua  the  only  railway  in 
operation  is   the  one   from  Corinto  to    Managua,  on    the  western  slope.      The 


252  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Pacific  States  are,  therefore,  those  in  which  the  commercial  movement  is  most 
important. 

During  the  season  just  closed,  the  shipments  of  coffee  from  Champerico 
amounted  to  580,000  bags,  and  those  from  other  Central  American  ports  on  the 
Pacific  to  over  400,000  bags.  A  small  proportion  of  these  shipments  go  to  San 
Francisco  and  a  smaller  one  to  New  York;  the  bulk  of  the  trade  is  directed  to 
Hamburg,  London,  and  Havre,  and,  through  rates  or  freight  to  and  from  Europe 
being  lower  than  to  and  from  New  York,  the  imports  and  exports  of  the  coast 
are  controlled  by  Germany,  England,  and  France.  Unless  the  policy  of  the 
Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company  and  the  Panama  Railroad  Company  be  reversed, 
it  is  difficult  to  see  how  our  Central  American  trade  can  be  increased,  the  busi- 
ness of  the  east  coast  being  restricted  by  the  comparatively  isolated  position  of 
the  ports. 

Ecuador  and  Peru. — Relations  with  Ecuador  and  Peru  are  dependent  upon 
a  traffic  arrangement  with  the  Panama  Railroad  Company  to  connect  with  the 
Pacific  Steam  Navigation  (British)  and  the  South  American  Steamship  (Chilian) 
lines  of  steamers,  running  between  Panama  and  ports  in  Ecuador,  Peru,  and 
Chili.  Were  such  an  arrangement  effected,  a  line  of  first-class  steamers  between 
New  Orleans  and  Colon  (Aspinwall),  scheduled  to  make  close  connection  with 
the  steamers  on  the  Pacific  side,  would  command,  practically,  the  entire  passenger 
traffic  between  the  west  coast  of  South  America  and  the  United  States,  and  the 
bulk  of  that  between  that  coast  and  Europe. 

The  run  from  Colon  to  New  Orleans  could  be  made  in  three  and  a  half  days, 
making  the  time  to  Chicago  via  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  four  and  a  half 
days,  and  to  New  York  via  Chicago  six  days,  as  against  seven  days  to  New 
York  by  direct  steamer  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Company. 

With  regular  and  reliable  communication  via  Colon,  trade  with  Ecuador  and 
Peru  would  be  stimulated  and  an  important  business  established  where,  rela- 
tively, none  exists  at  present.  These  countries  are  now  dependent  upon  the 
United  States  for  their  supply  of  flour,  communication  with  Chile,  their  usual 
source  of  supply,  being  almost  entirely  suspended.  Peru  will  be  a  large  market 
for  lard  as  soon  as  "reciprocity"  does  away  with  the  prohibitory  duties  now 
checking  the  importation  of  that  article  and  the  rapid  development  of  agricul- 
ture, mining,  and  railroad  construction  in  that  Republic  creates  an  active  de- 
mand for  agricultural  implements,  steam  plows  and  mining  and  railway  sup- 
plies ot  all  kinds.  The  return  trade  would  consist  of  cacao,  coffee,  hides,  goat 
skins,  alpaca  wool,  etc. 

A  railway  is  in  course  of  rapid  construction,  which,  running  from  Buenaven- 
tura, on  the  Pacific  coast  of  Colombia,  to  Cali,  will  open  the  valley  of  the  Cauca, 
the   richest  in   South  America.      The  State  of  Cauca  is  the  most  densely  popu- 


GENERAL.  253 

lated,  as  it  is  the  most  active  and  progressive,  of  the  Columbian  States,  and 
offers  a  new  and  wide  field  for  commercial  enterprise. 

Colombia. — A  line  to  Colon,  connected  by  a  service  between  that  port  and 
Santa  Marta.  Savanilla  (Barranquilla),  and  Cartagena,  could  hardly  fail  to  draw 
in  time  to  Chicago  the  larger  share  of  the  Colombian  trade.  The  Santa  Marta 
Railroad,  now  reaching  about  30  miles  in  the  interior  and  soon  to  be  completed 
to  Banco,  on  the  Magdalena  River,  will  connect  that  stream  with  the  best  harbor 
on  the  Caribbean  coast  of  Colombia,  besides  running  through  a  rich  banana, 
cocoanut,  and  cacao  section.  Santa  Marta  is  fast  becoming  a  large  fruit-shipping 
port,  and  an  independent,  direct  fruit  line  at  that  port  could  even  now  be  profit- 
ably run.  Much  of  the  coffee  trade  of  Colombia,  which,  from  want  of  a  nearer 
outlet  to  the  sea,  has  hitherto  passed  through  Maracaibo  (Venezuela),  will  be 
commanded  by  Santa  Marta. 

The  value  of  our  trade  with  Colombia  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  30th  of  June, 
1890,   was : 

Imports,  $3,575,253,  distributed  as  follows:  New  York,  $3,321,890;  other 
Atlantic  ports,  $153,524;  total  Atlantic  ports,  $3,475,414.  New  Orleans, 
$99,791;  other  Gulf  ports,  $24;  total  Gulf  ports,  $99,815.  Pacific  ports  (San 
Francisco),  total  $24. 

Exports,  $2,522,351,  distributed  as  follows:  New  York,  $2,21 1,568 ;  other 
Atlantic  ports,  $146,108;  total  Atlantic  ports,  $2,357,676.  New  Orleans, 
$59,747;  other  Gulf  ports,  $5,039;  total  Gulf  ports,  $64,786.  Pacific  ports 
(San  Francisco),  total,  $99,889. 

The  chief  articles  of  import  were;  Coffee,  $1,849,441  ;  hides  and  skins, 
$630,099;  India  rubber,  $256,427;  cabinet  woods  (cedar,  mahogany,  etc.), 
$129,237;  besides  ores,  dyestuffs,  etc. 

Our  exports  comprised:  Machinery,  $136,117;  hog  products,  $111,335; 
coal,  $105,027;  sewing  machines,  $95,136;  illuminating  oils,  $70,694;  cotton 
goods,  $144,149;  malt  liquors,  $22,147;  railroad  cars,  $22,278;  butter, 
$23>577;  fl°ur  (51>42°  barrels),  $248,086;  drugs  and  chemicals,  $159,457; 
glassware,  $22,517;  cordage,  $40,321;  saws  and  tools,  $67,882;  wire  and 
manufactures  of  iron  and  steel,  $91,403;  refined  sugar,  $141,929;  besides  lum- 
ber, ready-made  clothing,  dairy  products,  paints,  naval  stores,  and  other  articles. 

The  Atlas  Line  of  steamers,  from  and  to  New  York,  furnishes  the  only  regular 
means  of  communication  between  the  United  States  and  Colombia.  The  "  Har- 
rison "  and  "  West  India  Mail  "  steamers  touch  Sabanilla,  Cartagena,  and  Colon 
on  their  way  from  Liverpool  to  New  Orleans,  but  return  direct  to  Liverpool. 

Venezuela. — The  value  of  our  trade  with  Venezuala  for  i889-*90  is  stated 
at:  Imports,  $10,966,765,  distributed  as  follows:  New  York,  $10,886,709; 
other  Atlantic  ports,  $80,056;   total  Atlantic  ports,  $10,966,765. 


254  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Exports,  $3,984,280,  viz:  New  York,  $3,929,659;  other  Atlantic  ports, 
$36,731;  total  Atlantic  ports,  $3,966,390.  Gulf  ports  (lumber  from  Mobile 
and  Florida  ports),  $17,890.  Coffee  represents  $9,662,207  and  hides  and 
skins  $812,347  of  the  imports. 

The  exports  comprise:  Flour  (173,759  barrels),  $807,642;  corn  (240,498 
bushels),  $129,132;  hog  products,  $526,908  ;  cotton  goods,  $410,045  ;  illumi- 
nating oil,  $109,261-;  sewing  machines,  machinery,  and  nails,  $168,440  ;  butter 
and  cheese,  $96,881;  besides  lumber,  naval  stores,  paints,  agricultural  imple- 
ments, railway,  telegraph,  and  electric  implements,  stationery,  coals,  and  other 
articles. 

The  whole  American  trade  of  Venezuela  is  in  the  hands  of  New  York,  and 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  our  eastern  States  consume  chiefly  Maracaybo  (Vene- 
zuela) coffee,  while  the  west  derives  its  main  supply  from  Brazil,  very  little  of 
that  valuable  commerce  can  be  expected  to  go  to  Chicago.  The  latter  city, 
however,  might,  with  proper  effort,  take  a  large  share  of  the  exports  to  Vene- 
zuela. 

The  "Red  D  "  Line  of  steamers  connects  New  York  with  Laguayra  and 
other  Venezuela  ports;  it  is  practically  managed  as  a  trading  company,  con- 
trolling its  own  transportation,  and  the  result  it  has  acheived  is  suggestive. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  direct  trade  relations  between  Chicago  and  Spanish 
America  via  New  Orleans,  the  above  statement  points  to  the  following  conclu- 
sions, viz  : 

(1)  That  a  large,  profitable,  and  immediately  available  trade  can  be  estab- 
lished with  Cuba  and  Mexico. 

(2)  That  business  with  Central  America  may  under  certain  conditions  be  in- 
creased. 

(3)  That  an  important  traffic  with  Ecuador,  Peru,  and  eventually  Chile,  can 
be  developed. 

(4)  That  the  possibilities  of  trade  with  Colombia  are  serious,  and 

(5)  That  the  field  in  Venezuela,  though  now  occupied  exclusively  by  New 
York,  may  be  disputed. 

Two  steamers  of  suitable  size,  running  from  New  Orleans  to  Havana,  Pro- 
greso,  Vera  Cruz,  and  Tampico,  would  secure  a  semimonthly  service  between 
Chicago  (via  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad),  and  ports  in  Cuba  and  Mexico. 

One  steamer  between  New  Orleans  and  Colon,  touching  at  Greytown  (Nic- 
aragua), and  Port  Limon  (Costa  Rica),  scheduled  to  connect  with  either  of  the 
lines  plying  between  Panama  and  ports  in  Ecuador,  Peru,  and  Chile,  and  con- 
nected by  an  annex  with  the  Caribbean  ports  of  Colombia,  would  give  a  monthly 
service  for  business  with  the  east  and  west  coasts  of  Central  America,  the  west 
coast  of  South  America  and  the  north  coast  of  Colombia. 


GENERAL.  255 

One  steamer  from  New  Orleans  to  Laguayra,  touching  at  Jamaica,  with  an 
annex  taking  Puerto  Cabello,  Maracaybo,  and  Curacao,  would  establish  a 
monthly  service  for  the  traffic  with  Venezuela. 

First-class  fast  (15  knots)  steamers,  fitted  up  with  a  view  to  the  comforts  of 
travelers,  would,  on  all  the  lines,  do  a  large  passenger  business,  particularly  if 
arrangements  could  be  made  to  issue  through  tickets  to  and  from  New  York  via 
Chicago.  Nothing,  however,  can  be  done  toward  the  establishment  of  the  in- 
dicated lines  unless  the  quarantine  regulations  now  enforced  at  New  Orleans 
are  modified.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  board  of  health  of  Louisiana 
are  disposed  to  meet  this  question  in  a  fair  and  liberal  spirit,  and  that  sanitary 
rules  may  be  mutually  devised  and  agreed  upon  which  will  do  away  with  all  un- 
necessary detention  of  the  steamers. 

DireGt  communication  with  the  Mississippi  Valley  means,  to  the  Spanish- 
American  countries  reviewed  in  this  report,  reaching,  by  the  shorter  line,  the 
area  of  cheapest  production  of  their  chief  articles  of  import,  and  opening  a  mar- 
ket of  boundless  capacity  for  their  own  products  ;  besides  creating  competition 
with  the  transportation  lines  that  now  monopolize  their  trade  with  the  United 
States,  and  giving  them  more  favorable  rates  of  freight,  improved  service,  and, 
consequently,  increased  business.  The  encouragement  with  which  the  idea  of 
the  New  Orleans  and  Chicago  line  was  received  is,  therefore,  easily  understood. 
This  feeling  will  greatly  aid  and  facilitate  the  efforts  of  our  own  people  towards 
the  establishment  of  new  commercial  relations.  To  secure  the  full  benefit  of  such 
relations,  however,  it  will  be  essential  for  our  manufacturers  and  merchants  to 
heed  certain  points,  neglect  of  which,  on  their  part,  is  the  subject  of  frequent 
complaint  from  Spanish- American  buyers,  viz : 

(1)  Spanish- American  markets  require  special  sizes,  patterns,  and  styles  of 
goods;  the  exact  articles  demanded  must  be  furnished,  as  no  substitue,  however 
closely  alike  or  superior  to  the  one  ordered,  will  be  accepted  by  the  consumer. 

(2)  Packing  of  goods  requires  the  most  careful  attention.  It  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  at  most  Spanish-American  ports  steamers  transfer  and  receive  their 
cargoes  in  lighters  while  at  anchor  in  heavy  surf;  that  the  ports  are  mere  points 
of  transit  for  merchandise  destined  for  interior  points;  that  customs  duties  are, 
in  most  instances,  levied  on  gross  weight  of  packages,  no  deduction  being  allowed 
for  breakage  or  other  damage.  Goods  should,  therefore,  be  put  up  with  ref- 
erence to  protection  against  damage  by  water,  to  adaptability  to  transportation 
by  mules  or  light  wagons,  and  to  the  lightest  packing  consistent  with  absolute 
safety  of  contents. 

The  general  practice  in  Spanish  America  is  to  sell  domestic  products  for  cash 
and  to  buy  foreign  goods  on  a  credit  of  six  months;   which  credit,  it  is  understood, 


256  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

may  be  extended  to  nine  or  even  twelve  months,  interest  at  8  per  cent  per  an- 
num being  paid  on  the  extension. 

The  whole  trade  of  Europe  is  conducted  on  this  basis,  and  it  may  be  remarked 
in  praise  of  Spanish-American  commercial  integrity,  that  losses  from  credits  are 
of  extremely  rare  occurrence. 

In  Cuba  and  Mexico  business  is  gradually  tending  to  a  cash  basis.  In  the 
former  country  considerable  capital  is  accumulated  at  Havana,  and  the  disposi- 
tion of  merchants  being  to  keep  within  their  means  long  credits  are  seldom,  if 
ever,  asked  for.  In  the  latter,  with  the  construction  of  railroads  and  the  es- 
tablishment at  all  important  interior  localities  of  branches  by  the  banks  of  the 
capital,  a  new  direction  is  given  to  the  movement  of  commerce,  and  old  methods 
are  being,  if  not  abandoned,  at  least  greatly  modified. 

In  conclusion,  it  is  proper  to  express  your  representatives'  thankful  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  valuable  aid  everywhere  extended  to  them  by  the  diplomatic 
and  consular  officers  of  this  Government,  and  to  state  that  American  interests 
in  Spanish  America  are  in  faithful  and  able  hands. 

Respectfully  submitting  the  above  remarks,  and  remaining  at  your  command 
if  further  information  and  particulars  are  desired,  we  are,  dear  sir, 
Yours  very  truly, 

A.  Schreiber. 
G.  C.  Power. 
Stuyvesant  Fish,  Esq., 

President  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  Chicago,  III. 


TRANSPORTATION. 


The  firm  of  Lampert  &  Holt,  now  operating  lines  of  steamers 
between  Liverpool  and  Antwerp  and  the  various  ports  on  the  east 
coast  of  South  America,  has  decided  to  extend  their  service  to  the 
west  coast  and  establish  a  regular  line  between  Panama,  Guayaquil, 
Callao,  Valparaiso,  and  the  other  cities  of  Colombia,  Ecuador, 
Peru,  and  Chile  and  the  ports  of  Europe.  The  service  will  be 
monthly  for  the  present,  and  will  be  conducted  by  thirteen  steamers 
of  about  3,500  tons  burden.  This  will  make  four  lines  of  steam- 
ships between  Liverpool  and  the  west  coast  of  Central  and  South 
America. 

INTERCONTINENTAL  RAILWAY. 

The  following  is  an  abstract  of  the  report  of  Mr.  L.  J.  Blanco, 
member  of  the  Intercontinental  Railway  Commission  for  Vene- 
zuela, concerning  that  work : 

United  States  and  Mexico. — The  railways  in  these  two  countries  being  in 
perfect  communication,  the  commission  has  only  been  occupied  with  their  con- 
tinuation and  the  choice  of  the  most  suitable  point  of  departure;  it  has  decided 
for  Ayutla,  on  the  Guatemala  frontier. 

Guatemala. — From  Ayutla  the  intercontinental  line  will  descend  by  the 
Pacific  coast,  passing  in  the  neighborhood  of  Retahuleu  and  Mazatonango,  as 
far  as  Santa  Lucia.  Thence  will  be  used  the  branch,  in  course  of  construction, 
of  the  central  railway  from  Guatemala  to  Escuintla,  and  will  pass  from  Cujini- 
jilapa  to  Santa  Ana,  in  the  Republic  of  Salvador. 

Salvador. — In  this  Republic  the  route  of  the  proposed  central  line  will  be 
utilized,  passing  by  Santa  Ana,  Nuevo  San  Salvador,  San  Salvador,  Cujuto- 
peque,  San  Vincent,  and  San  Miguel,  entering  Honduras  by  Guascoran. 

Honduras. — From  Guascoran  the  line  will  continue  by  the  shore  of  Gulf 
Bull.  41 17  •        257 


258 


COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 


Fonseca,  crossing  the  State  of  Choluteca  via  the  town  of  that  name,  going 
thence  to  the  south  toward  Nicaragua. 

Nicaragua. — In  this  Republic  the  line  will  arrive  at  the  town  of  Chinandega, 
where  it  will  rejoin  the  railway  from  Corinto  to  Lake  Managua,  utilizing  this 
line  up  to  a  suitable  point,  for  example,  Pueblo  Viejo,  skirting  the  lake  and 
coming  to  the  town  of  Managua,  where  it  will  take  the  line  already  constructed 
from  Managua  to  Masaya.  From  Masaya  the  line  will  pass  to  Rivas,  will 
cross  the  proposed  Nicaragua  Canal,  and  will  enter  into  the  Republic  of  Costa 
Rica. 

Costa  Rica. — Following  the  shores  of  the  Lake  of  Nicaragua  and  penetrating 
the  country  by  the  plains  of  Guatuso  and  San  Carlos,  the  line  will  continue  as 
far  as  the  town  of  Alajuela,  where  there  is  a  branch  to  the  capital.  From  Ala- 
juela  a  continuation  will  be  made  by  the  railway  from  San  Jose  to  Puerto  Limon; 
thence,  by  points  which  are  not  yet  determined,  the  length  of  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama  as  far  as  the  entry  of  the  Atrato  Valley  in  Colombia  will  be  traversed. 

Colombia. — Colombia  being  reached,  the  Intercontinental  will  traverse  the 
western  cordillera  of  the  Andes,  entering  into  the  Cauca  Valley  and  reaching 
the  environs  of  the  town  of  Antioquia;  it  will  ascend  by  this  valley,  connecting 
the  principal  localities  met  with,  and  arriving  at  Popayan.  The  central  cor- 
dillera will  be  crossed,  in  order  to  survey  the  branch  intended  to  connect  Bogota 
with  the  main  line.  From  Popayan  the  line  will  pass  into  the  Patia  Valley, 
making  toward  Pasto  or  Ipialos,  with  continuation  toward  Ecuador. 

The  passage  of  the  cordillera  on  the  route  from  Popayan  to  Pasto  will  be  one 
of  the  greatest  difficulties  met  with  in  Colombia;  it  is  at  this  point  that  the 
great  ramifications  of  the  Colombian  Andes  commence. 

Venezuela. — In  order  to  place  this  Republic  in  communication  with  the  trunk 
line,  a  branch  will  start  from  a  point  (still  undetermined)  of  the  route  in  the 
Cauca  Valley,  going  to  Medellin,  where  it  will  rejoin  the  line  running  from  that 
town  to  Puerto  Berrio,  on  the  Magdalena;  thence  it  will  go  to  Bucaramanga, 
and  thence  to  San  Jose  de  Cucuta  (frontier)  and  San  Cristobal,  La  Grita,  Me- 
rida,  Trugillo,  Barquisimeto,  and  terminating  at  Valencia.  From  Valencia  to 
Caracas,  via  La  Victoria,  a  railway  is  in  course  of  construction  and  will  be 
completed  in  a  few  years. 

Other  lines  having  been  conceded,  are  being  surveyed  in  the  regions  just  indi- 
cated. The  route  of  the  Intercontinental  will  undoubtedly  adapt  itself  to  cir- 
cumstances at    the  time  of  the  execution  of  the  project,  whenever  that  may  be. 

Ecuador. — The  line  will  touch  at  &he  town  of  Tulcan  ;  then,  descending  by 
the  central  valley  of  Quito,  will  serve  the  towns  of  Ibarra,  Quito,  Latacunga, 
Ambato,  Cuenca,  and  Loja,  there  entering  Peru. 

Peru. — The  line  will  traverse  the  department  of  Cajamarca,  or  the  Amazonos, 


TRANSPORTATION.  259 

till  it  meets  the  river  Maranon,  and  will  ascend  by  that  valley  as  far  as  Cerro 
de  Pasco.  From  the  latter  point  it  will  follow  the  course  of  the  Pereno  up  to 
a  suitable  point  for  a  deviation  to  Santa  Ana ;  then  to  Cuzco,  Santa  Ana ;  then 
to  Cuzco,  Santa  Rosa,  and  Puno,  skirting  Lake  Titicaca,  in  order  to  penetrate 
Bolivia. 

Bolivia. — The  Intercontinental  will  connect  the  towns  of  La  Paz,  Oruro, 
and  Huanchaca,  where  it  will  divide  into  several  branches,  going  to  Chile,  the 
Argentine  Republic,  Brazil,  Paraguay,  and  Uruguay. 

Chile. — The  Chilean  branch  goes  from  Huanchaca  to  Antofagasta,  a  port  on 
the  Pacific. 

Argentine  Republic. — This  branch,  which  has  already  been  surveyed,  goes 
from  Huanchaca  to  Jujuy,  the  extreme  point  of  the  railway  system  of  this 
Republic. 

Paraguay  and  Uruguay. — The  line  which  is  to  connect  these  two  countries 
to  the  proposed  system  will  start  from  Huanchaca ;  will  follow  the  left  bank  of 
the  Pilcomayo  in  order  to  rejoin  the  Osbourn  concession,  which,  from  Asun- 
cion, goes  to  the  north  of  Paraguay.  From  Asuncion  use  will  be  made  of  the 
lines  already  constructed  or  in  course  of  construction  as  far  as  Montevideo. 

Brazil. — The  Brazilian  branch  starts  from  Huanchaca,  going  eastward,  clear- 
ing the  Paraguay  River  at  Curumba,  where,  penetrating  on  Brazilian  territory, 
it  follows  the  river  Taguary  as  far  as  Coxim,  a  railway  the  concession  for 
which,  if  granted,  will  go  from  this  point  to  Uberaba.  From  this  latter  locality 
the  existing  lines  continue  to  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

The  scientific  commissions  are  authorized  to  search  out  and  survey  the  best 
directions  and  routes.  The  above  plan  must  only  be  considered  as  a  general 
idea,  which,  according  to  the  plans  drawn  up  at  the  Washington  Central  Bureau, 
would  appear  to  serve  most  effectually  the  interests  of  the  American  Republics. 

AN  ENGLISH  VIEW  OF  THE  BUREAU. 

The  Engineering,  the  leading  technical  publication  in  London, 
contains  the  following  editorial  concerning  the  work  of  the  Bureau 
of  American  Republics : 

Probably  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  at  the  same  time  important  com- 
mercial reports  ever  issued  concerning  the  American  Republics  is  that  which 
reached  this  country  on  Monday  from  the  Bureau  of  American  Republics.  The 
Bureau  was  established  in  1890,  and  its  object  was  and  is  the  preparation  and 
publication  of  bulletins  regarding  the  commerce  and  resources  of  the  American 
Republics  and  other  information  of  interest  to  manufacturers,  merchants,  and 
shippers.      It  was  also  provided  that  the  Bureau  should  at  all  times  be  available 


260  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

as  a  medium  of  communication  for  persons  applying  for  reasonable  information 
pertaining  to  their  customs'  tariffs  and  regulations  and  to  their  commerce  and 
navigation.  The  cost  of  maintaining  the  Bureau  was  not  to  exceed  ^7,200 
per  annum,  and  this  expense  is  shared  by  the  several  Republics  in  proportion  to 
their  population.  The  duration  of  the  Bureau,  which  is  under  the  supervision 
of  the  Secretary  of  State,  United  States,  is  for  a  period  often  years,  and  if  found 
profitable  to  the  nations  participating  it  is  to  be  maintained  for  successive  periods 
of  ten  years  indefinitely.  The  countries  comprised  in  the  association  are  the 
Argentine  Republic,  Bolivia,  Brazil,  Chile,  Colombia,  Costa  Rica,  Ecuador, 
Guatemala,  Haiti,  Honduras,  Mexico,  Nicaragua,  Paraguay,  Peru,  Salvador, 
the  United  States,  Uruguay,  and  Venezuela.  It  appears  from  the  report  that 
the  Bureau  has  been  signally  successful  in  accomplishing  its  objects.  On  its 
inception  a  circular  in  the  Spanish  and  English  languages  was  issued  by  the  De- 
partment of  State  announcing  the  organization  of  the  Bureau,  and  setting  forth 
in  detail  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  intended.  No  less  than  38,000  applica- 
tions for  copies  of  the  bulletins  of  the  Bureau  were  soon  received  from  the 
United  States  alone,  whilst  a  corresponding  number  was  received  from  the 
other  Republics.  In  addition  to  this,  700  inquiries  for  specific  information 
concerning  commercial  matters  were  received  and  answered  during  the  first  four 
months,  and  such  inquiries  have  continued  incessantly.  Briefly,  the  latter 
applications  were  made  by,  among  many  others,  makers  of  agricultural  and  min- 
ing machinery  and  implements,  manufacturers  of  railway  material,  hardware, 
and  chemicals ;  whilst  others  sought  information  as  to  the  demand  for  their  pro- 
ductions, the  rates  for  duties,  etc.,  so  as  to  assist  them  in  determining  whether 
their  articles  were  adapted  for  use  in  those  markets,  as  well  as  to  modify  them 
in  such  a  way  as  to  suit  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the  trade.  The  information 
imparted  by  the  Bureau  has  already  been  the  means  of  extending  the  commercial 
and  social  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  the  Latin-American  na- 
tions. This  fact  is  demonstrated  not  only  by  the  rapid  growth  of  the  exports, 
but  also  by  the  long  passenger  lists  of  the  steamers  plying  between  the  United 
States  and  the  ports  of  Central  and  South  America,  and  by  the  enormous  in- 
crease in  the  weight  of  the  mails.  In  fact,  manufacturers  of  the  United  States, 
who  have  never  attempted  to  sell  merchandise  on  the  Southern  Continent,  are 
now  sending  agents  into  those  markets  to  introduce  their  goods,  to  make  the 
acquaintance  of  importing  merchants,  and  to  establish  agencies  and  systems  of 
credit.  Moreover,  three  new  lines  of  steamships  have  been  established  between 
the  United  States  and  the  ports  of  the  Southern  Republics,  and  the  existing 
companies  have  been  compelled  to  increase  the  number  and  size  of  the  vessels 
engaged  in  the  trade.  We  now  come  to  a  matter  of  considerable  importance  to 
manufacturers   at   home,  and    one   which   is  worth  quoting   in   full,  as  follows : 


TRANSPORTATION.  26 1 

"The  merchants  of  Mexico  and  the  cities  of  Central  and  South  America,  who 
have  heretofore  purchased  their  goods  in  Europe  exclusively,  are  now  coming  to 
the  United  States,  and  invariably  discover  that  they  can  find  here  nearly  every 
article  they  need,  of  a  better  quality,  and  at  a  price  as  low  as  can  be  obtained  in 
Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  France;  and  the  recently  negotiated  reciprocity 
arrangements  afford  them  advantages  that  are  beginning  to  be  understood  and 
appreciated.  Not  long  ago  the  agent  of  one  of  the  largest  establishments  in 
Brazil,  which  is  operating  upon  European  capital,  and  has  heretofore  obtained 
its  supplies  entirely  in  Great  Britain,  visited  the  United  States  on  his  way  to 
purchase  goods  in  Europe.  He  found  that  he  could  do  better  here,  both  in 
quality  and  in  price,  and  went  no  further.  His  purchases,  which  amounted  to 
several  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  manufactured  merchandise,  are  now 
being  shipped  from  New  York."  This  is,  then,  one* instance  of  the  cementation 
of  the  trade  of  the  American  Republics.  After  giving  figures  showing  the  enor- 
mous increase  in  the  letter  mails,  the  report  deals  with  the  handbooks  which 
have  been  issued  by  the  Bureau,  and  also  with  the  bulletins,  of  which  twenty- 
eight  have  been  published  up  to  the  present.  The  handbooks,  with  maps,  and 
bulletins  contain  detailed  information  regarding  the  condition  and  commerce  of 
each  of  the  American  Republics  and  colonies,  official  registers,  list  of  diplomatic 
and  consular  officers,  commercial  statistics,  customs'  tariffs,  the  coinage,  weights, 
and  measures,  patents  and  trade-marks,  port  charges,  transportation,  and  postal 
facilities,  etc.  Some  of  the  bulletins  comprise  commercial  directories  of  different 
Republics,  and  the  customs'  tariffs  are  published  in  English  and  Spanish,  and  those 
of  Brazil  in  English  and  Portuguese.  The  object  of  these  commercial  directories, 
which  certainly  form  a  very  important  feature  of  the  Bureau,  is  to  enable  man- 
ufacturers and  merchants  to  forward  catalogues  and  circulars  and  to  open  corre- 
spondence with  traders  on  the  Southern  Continents.  Though  these  directories 
are  necessarily  incomplete,  there  has  been  an  enormous  demand  for  them  on  the 
part  of  those  endeavoring  to  open  up  new  markets.  The  Bureau  of  American 
Republics  has  during  the  first  year  succeeded  in  its  objects,  and  its  first  report 
will  doubtless  afford  ample  food  for  reflection  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 


World's    Fair. 


COMMERCIAL  EXHIBIT  OF  LATIN  AMERICA  AT  WORLD'S  COLUM- 
BIAN EXPOSITION. 

[Circular  addressed  by  Department  of  State  to  consular  officers  in  Latin- American  countries. ,] 

It  is  conceded  that  one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  in  the  way  of  extending  the 
export  trade  of  the  United  States  upon  this  hemisphere  is  the  inability  of  our 
merchants  and  commission  men  to  obtain  in  this  country  certain  classes  of  goods 
that  are  manufactured  in  Europe  especially  for  the  markets  of  Central  and 
South  America.  The  manufacturers  of  Europe,  by  a  close  study  of  the  wants 
and  tastes  of  the  people  and  by  a  long  experience,  have  become  familiar  with 
the  peculiarities  of  a  trade  that  has  never  been  cultivated  by  the  manufacturers  of 
the  United  States,  who  have  been  absorbed  in  the  demands  of  a  domestic  mar- 
ket in  which  the  conditions  are  essentially  different. 

In  order  to  furnish  those  who  desire  to  manufacture  merchandise  for  the  ex- 
port trade  with  the  information  necessary  to  enable  them  to  compete  with  their 
European  rivals,  it  is  proposed  to  include  in  the  exhibit  of  the  Department  of 
State  at  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  a  practical  illustration  of  the  re- 
quirements of  consumers  in  Mexico,  Central  and  South  America,  and  the  West 
Indies.  The  aid  of  diplomatic  and  consular  officers  of  the  United  States  is  de- 
sired to  make  this  illustration  complete  and  effective. 

You  are,  therefore,  instructed  to  prepare,  at  your  earliest  convenience,  a  de- 
tailed report  setting  forth  in  what  respect  the  manufacturers  of  this  country  fail 
to  comply  with  the  demands  of  consumers  in  your  consular  district,  and  in  what 
respect  the  manufacturers  of  Europe  excel  them  in  complying  with  the  wants, 
tastes,  and  peculiarities  of  the  people,  in  preparing  and  decorating  their  mer- 
chandise, and  in  packing  it  for  transportation. 

This  report  should  include: 

(i)   Cotton   and    woolen    piece  goods,  thread    and  worsted  goods,  spool  and 
machine  thread,  twine,  cordage,  etc. 
262 


263 

(2)  Carriages,  wagons,  carts,  hand  and  cargo  trucks,  spokes,  fellies,  and  all 
knocked-down  woodwork  for  carriage  or  wagon  construction. 

(3)  Drugs,  chemicals,  dyestuffs,  pharmaceutical  products,  and  all  articles  used 
or  sold  by  druggists. 

(4)  Food  and  food  products  imported  into  the  country;  canned  goods  of  all 
kinds,  including  preserved  and  conserved  fruits  in  tin  or  glass;  pickles,  table 
luxuries,  condensed  milk,  plain  and  fancy  crackers  and  biscuit,  potted  meats  and 
game,  dried  meats  and  fish,  ham  and  bacon ;  and  lard  and  butter  in  barrels,  kegs, 
and  cans. 

(5)  Furniture  and  all  articles  of  housekeeping  use  and  decoration,  carpets, 
rugs,  mats,  hangings,  picture  frames,  and  moldings. 

(6)  Hardware,  cutlery,  shelf  hardware;  cut,  wrought  and  wire  nails;  axes, 
shovels,  spades,  hoes,  picks,  locks,  bolts,  hinges,  iron  and  steel  in  bars  and  bolts, 
plate  iron  and  steel,  and  corrugated  iron. 

(7)  Hemp,  flax,  and  the  manufactures  thereof,  and  jute  bagging. 

(8)  Leather  and  rubber  goods,  boots  and  shoes,  ponchos  and  mackintoshes, 
leather  belting,  saddles,  and  harness  work. 

(9)  Liquors,  both  spirituous  and  malt,  in  barrels,  bottles,  and  cases. 

(10)  Machinery  of  all  kinds,  agricultural  implements,  sewing  machines,  tools 
and  appliances  for  the  working  of  iron  and  steel,  saws,  files,  chains;  bolts,  nuts, 
rivets;   sugar  machinery,  and  hoisting  apparatus. 

(11)  Musical  instruments,  pianos,  organs,  brass  and  nickel  wind  instruments, 
drums,  flutes,  etc. 

(12)  Paints  and  painters'  utensils  and  supplies,  varnishes,  and  oils  for  illumi- 
nating and  lubricating  purposes. 

(13)  Plate  and  window  glass,  table  glass,  glass  for  druggists'  use  and  supplies, 
lamp  glass  and  shades,  and  lamps  and  fittings. 

(14)  Stationery;  writing,  bill,  and  note  paper;  printing  paper  and  cardboard, 
paper  bags,  wall  paper,  and  pasteboard. 

(15)  Watches,  clocks,  toys  and  notions,  small  wares,  silver-plated  and  solid- 
silver  ware,  table  ware,  and  jewelry. 

(16)  Wearing  apparel  of  all  kinds,  including  articles  of  personal  adornment; 
ready-made  clothing  in  wool  and  cotton;  underwear  for  men  and  women;  hats, 
caps,  and  gloves  in  cloth  and  felt;  silk  and  straw  hats;  silk,  cotton,  and  woolen 
hosiery,  and  machine-made  embroidery  and  trimmings,  and  every  other  form  of 
raw  or  manufactured  merchandise  for  which  there  is  a  demand  in  your  district. 

Each  class  of  article  should  be  treated  separately  and  in  detail  and  in  such 
manner  that  the  manufacturer  of  the  United  States  can  understand  what  is  nec- 
essary for  him  to  do  in  order  to  meet  the  popular  demand  and  produce  exactly 
what  is  wanted;  and  the  reasons  for  such  a  demand  should  be  distinctly  stated. 


264  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

You  will  be  good  enough,  also,  to  ascertain  so  far  as  possible,  from  reliable 
merchants,  what  prices  are  paid  for  each  class  of  merchandise  in  the  European 
market  and  the  cost  of  transportation  to  the  place  of  sale.  If  there  are  any 
peculiar  conditions  in  the  trade  of  your  district  that  must  be  taken  into  consid- 
eration, they  should  be  explained  in  full. 

These  reports  will  be  printed  in  large  editions  for  distribution  to  the  public 
at  the  Exposition,  and  it  is  hoped  that  they  may  be  prepared  with  special  care. 
They  should  be  marked  "Special  Report  for  World's  Columbian  Exposition." 

CONCESSIONS    GRANTED    BY    STEAMSHIP    AND    RAILWAY    COM- 
PANIES 

IN  FREIGHT    AND    PASSENGER    RATES   FOR  THE  BENEFIT  OF  THE   LATIN- 
AMERICAN  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN   EXPOSITION 

The  following  corporations  engaged  in  the  transportation  of  pas- 
sengers and  freight  have  agreed — 

(1)  To  carry  free  of  cost  the  Commissioners  of  the  Latin-American  Depart- 
ment of  the  Exposition  and  their  families. 

(2)  To  carry  free  of  cost  all  collections  furnished  by  foreign  governments 
for  exhibition,  provided  the  expenses  of  handling  are  paid. 

(3)  To  carry  for  one-half  the  ordinary  rates  all  articles  sent  by  private 
parties  for  exhibition — that  is,  one  full  rate  having  been  paid  to  the  United 
States,  the  same  articles  will  be  carried  back  without  further  charge,  to  the 
port  from  which  they  were  originally  shipped. 

(4)  To  reduce  passenger  rates  during  the  Exposition  to  cover  simply  the 
cost  of  boarding  the  passengers. 

The  Ward  Line  (New  York  and  Cuba  Mail  Steamship  Com- 
pany);  James  E.  Ward  &  Co.,  agents,  No.  113  Wall  street, 
New  York. 

The  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company;  J.  E.  Houston,  vice- 
president,  No.  35  Wall  street,  New  York. 

The  Red  "D"  Line;  Boulton,  Bliss  &  Dallett,  No.  71  Wall 
street,  New  York. 

United  States  and  Brazil  Mail  Steamship  Company;  J.  M. 
Lachlan,  manager,  corner  Broad  street  and  Exchange  Place, 
New  York. 


WORLDS    FAIR. 


265 


Clyde  Steamship  Line,  No.  5  Bowling  Green,  New  York. 

The  Trinidad  Line;  George  Christall,  No.  45  Exchange 
Place,  New  York. 

New  York  and  Porto  Rico  Steamship  Company;  Miller,  Bull 
&  Co.,  general  agents,  No.  76  Beaver  street,  New  York. 

Linea  de  Vapores  del  Orinoco;  E.  Lee,  director,  Port  of  Spain, 
Trinidad. 

Panama  Railroad  Company;  John  Newton,  president,  New 
York. 

Colombian  Navigation  and  Commercial  Company;  Charles 
H.  Green,  president,  82  Church  street,  New  York,  and  Carta- 
gena, Colombia. 

The  Guatemala  and  San  Jose  Railroad  Company,  San  Jose, 
Guatemala. 

Compania  Colombiana  de  Transportes  (Magdalena  River);  D. 
Lopez  Pentra,  managing  director,  Barranquilla,  Colombia. 

The  Barranquilla  Railway  and  Pier  Company;  F.  T.  Cisneros, 
president,  Bogota,  Colombia. 

Compania  Sud  Americana  de  Vapores  (from  Valparaiso  to 
Panama).  Agrees  to  Nos.  2  and  3  and  leaves  No.  4  for  future 
consideration. 

Honduras  and  Central  American  Steamship  Company;  James 
Rankine,  No.  19  Whitehall  street,  New  York.  Declined  No.  4 
for  want  of  room. 

Costa  Rica  and  Honduras  Steamship  Line;  J.  L.  Phipps  & 
Co.,  No.  140  Gravier  street,  New  Orleans,  La.  As  to  No.  4, 
they  will  sell  round  trip  tickets  for  $60,  or  40  per  cent  below  the 
regular  rates. 

New  Orleans,  Belize,  Royal  Mail  and  Central  American 
Steamship  Company;  Macheca  Brothers,  New  Orleans,  La. 
As  to  No.  2,  accept  so  far  as  not  to  interfere  with  fruit  cargoes. 

Koninklijke  West-Indische  Mail-Dienst  (Dutch  line) ;  Kun- 
hardt  &  Co.,  agents,  No.  32  Beaver  street,  New  York.     Decline 


266  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

No.  l ;  agree  to  .Nos.  2  and  3 ;  and  as  to  No.  4,  will  sell  round 
trip  tickets  for  one  rate,  plus  10  per  cent. 

Atlas  Line  (Atlas  Steamship  Company,  limited) ;  Pirn,  For- 
wood  &  Co.,  No.  24  State  street,  New  York.  "Will  return 
from  New  York  to  their  port  of  shipment,  free  of  cost,  any  exhib- 
its from  the  Exposition  at  Chicago  that  may  not  be  sold,  upon 
the  production  of  the  inward  bill  of  lading  showing  that  they 
arrived  by  the  steamers  of  this  line  from  one  of  the  ports  of  call 
and  had  paid  their  inward  freight." 

Quebec  Steamship  Company  (New  York,  Bermuda  and  West 
India  Line),  A.  E.  Outerbridge  &  Co.,  agents,  No.  39  Broadway, 
New  York.  As  to  No.  4,  will  reduce  rates  as  stated  to  passengers 
holding  through  tickets  to  Exposition. 

Lake  Titicaca  Navigation  Company. 

Arequipa  and  Puno  Railway  Company. 

Wessels  Line;  G.  Wessels  &  Co.,  No.  218  Washington  street, 
New  York. 

FREIGHT    CONCESSIONS    BY    RAILROADS. 

Very  liberal  concessions  and  reductions  have  also  been  made  by 
the  railroads  of  the  United  States  from  all  ports  of  entry  at  the 
seaboard  to  Chicago  upon  all  articles  sent  as  freight  and  intended 
for  exhibition  at  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  as  will  appear 
by  the  following  statement  of  the  official  action  taken  by  the 
Central  Traffic  Association  of  the  railroads  of  the  United  States 
at  a  meeting  held  at  Chicago,  May  13,  1891  : 

All  exhibits  will  be  charged  at  full  tariff  rates  when  going  to  the  Exposition. 

Upon  presentation  of  paid  freight  bills  or  original  bills  of  lading  and  a  cer- 
tificate signed  by  the  proper  officer  of  the  Exposition  that  the  articles  tendered 
for  return  shipment  are  unsold  exhibits  which  paid  full  rates  going,  and  a  re- 
lease given  by  the  owner  of  such  exhibits,  limiting  the  liability  of  such  carriers 
to  at  least  one-half  of  the  ordinary  responsibility  attached  to  the  transportation 
of  the  same  freight,  they  will,  with  the  exception  of  horses  and  other  valuable 
and  fancy  animals,  be  returned  free  over  the  same  route  by  which  they  were 


world's  fair.  267 

carried  on  the  forward  journey  to  the  points  within  the  Central  Traffic  Asso- 
ciation territory  at  which  they  were  originally  received. 

Horses  and  other  valuable  and  fancy  animals  will  be  charged  tariff  rates  in 
both  directions. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Wood  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Drees,  who  are  at  the 
head  of  the  Methodist  missions  in  South  America,  propose  to  pre- 
pare for  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  an  exhibit  showing 
the  progress  and  results  of  the  evangelical  missionary  work  on  that 
continent,  and  it  is  believed  that  the  other  denominations  will  unite 
with  them. 

Dr.  Francisco  Valiente,  one  of  the  leading  photographers  of 
Central  America,  is  making  a  collection  of  one  thousand  views  of 
Central  America  for  exhibition  ,at  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago 
in   1893. 

•  Prof.  Halsey  C.  Ives,  the  director  of  the  art  department  of  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition,  who  is  now  in  Europe  for  the 
purpose  of  interesting  the  artists  in  the  Exposition  at  Chicago, 
writes  from  Vienna  saying : 

I  had  a  most  enthusiastic  lot  of  artists  and  collectors  to  deal  with  in  Southern 
Russia.  The  enthusiasm  was  refreshing.  The  possibilities  and  probabilities  for 
a  grand  collection  grows  with  each  week's  time  given  to  the  work. 

The  firm  of  Fraser  &  Chalmers,  Chicago,  intend  to  establish  in 
that  city  during  the  Exposition  a  reading  room  in  some  convenient 
locality  for  the  use  01  visitors  from  the  Latin-American  countries 
and  colonies.  Their  purpose  is  to  make  it  a  sort  of  headquarters 
and  information  bureau  where  people  from  Central  and  South 
America  may  find  on  file  the  principal  newspapers  and  periodicals 
of  their  countries,  with  competent  persons  always  ready  to  give 
them  information  on  any  subject  they  may  desire,  particularly  with 
regard  to  commercial  matters.  This  firm  has  also  volunteered  to 
give  aid  and  information  to  any  persons  wishing  to  make  an  exhibit 
at  the  Exposition  involving  the  use  of  mining  machinery.  In 
their  letter  to  the  Latin- American  Bureau  on  this  subject  Messrs. 
Fraser  &  Chalmers  say  : 


268  COMMERCIAL    INFORMATION. 

Our  house  confines  its  business  almost  exclusively  to  the  manufacture  of 
machinery  for  the  successful  treatment  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead,  zinc,  and  tin 
ores.  In  this  line  we  are  the  largest  house  whose  business  is  exclusively  devoted 
to  this  branch  of  industry.  We  also  are  large  manufacturers  of  power  plants, 
high-grade  Corliss  engines,  high-pressure,  compound,  or  triple-expansion,  and 
machinery  required  for  cable  railway  stations. 

In  the  line  of  mining  machinery  we  make  everything  that  is  required  for  min- 
ing the  ore  under  ground,  carrying  it  to  the  mouth  of  the  shaft  or  tunnel,  hoist- 
ing from  the  shaft  or  tunnel,  crushing  the  ore,  and  putting  it  in  shape  for  the 
market,  either  as  a  high-grade  concentrate,  or  in  base  bullion,  or  refined  bars  of 
gold,  silver,  and  copper.  Our  business  includes  the  refining  and  separation  of 
silver  from  lead  bullion,  also  the  refining  of  gold,  and  converting  of  copper  by 
the  Bessemer  process,  and  refining  the  product  by  the  electrolytic  process. 

In  connection  with  the  World's  Fair  to  be  held  in  Chicago,  opening  May, 
1893,  we  intend  to  display  our  machinery  in  operation,  showing  the  process 
known  as  American  methods  for  the  reduction  and  separation  of  minerals. 
We  also  intend  to  display  power  machinery,  such  as  high-grade  Corliss  engines, 
compressor  plants  for  driving  machinery  or  drills  by  air,  hoisting  engines,  and 
elevated  tramways  for  carrying  ore  or  other  material  a  long  distance  by  sus- 
pended cables. 

Our  business  extends  largely  into  the  Spanish-speaking  countries,  in  Uruguay, 
Brazil,  the  Argentine,  and  into  nearly  every  district  of  South  America,  Central 
America,  and  Mexico.  In  Chile,  Peru,  South  Africa,  India,  China,  and  Japan 
we  have  a  large  trade,  and  have  established  branch  offices  in  many  parts  of  the 
world. 

It  will  be  our  pleasure  during  the  World's  Fair  period,  also  before  and  after 
that  time,  to  do  what  we  can  to  help  entertain  all  foreigners  who  may  come  to 
visit  our  city  and  fair.  If  we  can  aid  or  assist  you  in  the  district  to  which  you 
confine  your  operations,  it  will  be  a  pleasure  for  us  to  do  so. 

At  the  present  time  it  is  our  intention  to  open  an  office  in  the  center  of  the 
city  for  the  use  of  our  friends  abroad,  and  in  this  office  keep  the  papers  and 
periodicals  published  in  the  various  countries  our  friends  come  from,  so  that 
they  may  find  in  Chicago  a  place  where  they  can  meet  their  friends  and  at  the 
same  time  read  the  news  as  published  in  the  papers  at  home. 

We  also  expect  to  keep  in  our  office  gentlemen  who  are  familiar  with  our  city, 
and  who  speak  French,  Portuguese,  Spanish,  German,  and  English,  in  order 
that  our  friends  may  have  the  benefit  of  their  advice  and  service  while  they  are 
visiting  Chicago. 

We  talked  this  matter  up  with  you  at  the  time  you  were  so  kind   as    to   call 


world's  fair.  269 

upon  us  in  Chicago,  and  have  since  concluded  to  address  this  letter  in  order  that 
you  may  be  reminded  of  what  was  said  at  the  time  of  our  conversation. 

If  we  can  aid  the  people  in  making  their  exhibit  here  an  interesting  one  or 
assist  them  in  any  way,  it  will  be  a  pleasure  for  us  to  receive  their  letters,  to  in- 
stitute inquiries  they  may  wish  to  make  from  the  World's  Fair  officials,  and  reply 
to  the  fullest  extent  possible. 

I  am  at  the  present  time  one  of  the  local  directors  of  the  World's  Fair,  and 
therefore  am  acquainted  with  the  different  officials,  and  know  the  manner  in 
which  business  is  transacted,  and  therefore  am  in  position  to  aid  and  assist  the 
people  of  Central  and  South  America  who  may  wish  to  make  an  exhibit. 


INDEX. 


A. 

Page. 
Agricultural  resources  of  Colombia.         45 
Agriculture,  banana  culture  in  Brit- 
ish Guiana 213 

coffee  culture  in  Costa  Rica. . .         57 

coffee  culture  in  Mexico 118 

Costa  Rica  products,  1890 54 

Ecuador  crops,  1890 70 

estimates   of    Argentine   crops 

for  1891 12 

estimate  of  Brazil  coffee  crop, 

1891  3i 

growth  of,  in  Santa  Fe,  Argen- 
tine Republic 10 

value  of   Argentine   products, 

1891  13 

Alcabala    tax,    Mexico,    proposed 

abolition  of 115 

Alcohol  tax,  Peru 190 

Amazon  River,  Brazil,  exploration 

and  development 33 

American  goods,  exhibition  of,  de- 
sired at  Quito  Exposition. . .         68 
Anthracite    coal,    development    of 

mines  in  Mexico 121 

Antiquities,   Costa  Rican,  for  Chi- 
cago Exposition 56 

Argentine  Republic,  agriculture  in 

Santa  Fe,  1884,  1889 10 

arbitration    of    boundary  with 

Brazil 33 

cable  to  Tierra  del  Fuego 23 

census,  1891 20 

coal  discoveries 21 

commercial  situation,  1890.  ...  11 
comparative    exports    of    agri- 
cultural products 11 


Page, 
Argentine    Republic,    condition   of 

Falkland  Islands 23 

customs  law,  1892 5 

discovery  of  coal  in  Straits  of 

Magellan 21 

discovery  of  natural  gas 22 

discovery  of  silver  in  San  Bias 

Bay 21 

estimate  of  rural  products,  1891.         12 

explorations  of  Patagonia 21 

exports  by  classes,  six  months, 

1890 10 

exports  of  cereals,  1890-91. . .  6 

exports  of  wheat  and  corn  for 

ten  years 12 

exports  of  wool,  1888-90 7 

extension  of  Buenos  Aires  and 

Great  Southern  Railroad.  ...  16 
extension  of  railroad  to  Pata- 
gonia           16 

foreign  commerce,  1890 8 

foreign  commerce, three  months 

iSgo-'gi *    9 

foreign  commerce,  six  months,     „ 

iSgo-'gi 9 

foreign  commerce, nine  months, 

1891 14 

general  situation,  1891 20 

horseback    journey    to      Paris 

from 22 

land  measures 14 

narrow  gauge  railroads 16 

number  of  cattle  slaughtered, 

1890 201 

purchase  of  Baron  Hirsch 22 

railroads   in    operation,    1889- 

'90 15 

271 


272 


INDEX. 


Page. 
Argentine  Republic — Continued. 

railroads  in  Santa  Fe. . . 17 

railway  commission  created". .  17 
railways  in  operation,  1891. ...  15 
report  of  foreign  affairs,  1891. .  6 
representation   at  World's  Co- 
lumbian Exposition 23 

rewards  for  coal  discoveries. . .  22 

school  system 18 

settlement  of  Tierra  del  Fuego.  23 

shipments  of  frozen  fish 17 

shipments  of  frozen  mutton. .  .  13 

shipments  of  horses 13 

shipping  statistics,  1890 24 

statistical    summary  for   thirty 

years 20 

sugar  industry 13 

value  of  agricultural  and  pas- 
toral products,  1891 13 

B. 

Bahamas,  additions  to  free  list 212 

steamship  line  among  the  is- 
lands    212 

Bananas,  utilization  of  fiber 79 

cultivation  of.in  British  Guiana.  213 

cultivation  of,  in  Honduras —  77 

drying,  for  shipment 237 

increased  exportation  from 

Honduras 78 

Bank  of  Central  America,  conces- 
sion for,  in  Salvador 198 

Barbados,  census  of,  1891 212 

manufacture  of  ice  in 213 

Barranquilla,    Colombia,    canal    to 

Sabanilla 50 

Belgium,  trade  with  Brazil 30 

Bermuda    and   West    India  Cable 

Company,   proposed   service 

between    the    United    States 

and  British  West  Indies  ....  211 

Bermuda, cable  communication  with 

other  islands 213 

Bogota,  Colombia,  establishment  of 

rubber  factory 51 

National  exposition  in 51 

Bolivia,  class  of  goods  required  in.  233 


Page. 
Bolivia — Continued. 

communication    with    Atlantic 

Ocean 27 

explorations    of    Desaguadero 

River 26 

inauguration  of  new  roads  ....         25 
navigation  of  Madeira  River  .  26 

railway  concession  from  Oruro 

to  Amazon  River 26 

railway  concession,  La  Paz  to 

Lake  Titicaca 26 

railway  concessions  applied  for, 

1891 25 

representation  at  World's  Co- 
lumbian Exposition 27 

transportation  facilities,  1891..  25 
Bonded  warehouse  regulations. ...  28 
Boundary,    arbitration    of    dispute 

between  Argentine  and  Brazil         33 
between    French     and    Dutch 

Guiana  settled 220 

settlement  of  Venezuelan  and 

Colombian 51 

Brazil,  arbitration  of  boundary  with 

Argentine 33 

bonded  warehouse  regulations .         28 

coffee  crop  estimate,  1891 31 

consular  invoices  necessary  for 

clearances 28 

temporary  suspension  of 28 

exhibit  of  Corcovado  Railway  at 

Chicago  Exposition 35 

exploration  and  development  of 

Amazon  River 33 

importation  of  locomotives  from 

United  States 33 

imports  of  British  cotton  goods, 

four  months,  1891 31 

imports  of  British  goods,  four 

months,  1891 30 

purchase  of  grapevines 32 

reorganization    of     diplomatic 

and  consular  service 34 

representation  at  World's  Co- 
lumbian Exposition 34 

salaries  of  President  and  Vice- 
President  34 


INDEX. 


273 


Page. 
Brazil — Continued. 

steamship  line  between  Espirito 

Santo  and  the  United  States..  33 
steamship  line  with  Hungary. .  33 
suspension    of   confiscation   of 

ex-Emperor's  property 34 

trade  opportunities 32 

trade  with  Belgium 30 

wine  industry 32 

Breadstuff's,  estimates  of  Argentine 

crop,  1891 12 

exports  from  Argentine  for  ten 

years 12 

exports  from  Argentine  in  1890- 

'91 6 

British    colonies,    construction    of 

small  steamers  for  local  use.       211 

new  cable  lines 211 

steamship  communication  with.       211 
subsidies  to  steamship  lines. . .        211 
British  Guiana,  colonization  of  He- 
brews in 215 

cultivation  of  bananas 213 

discovery  of  diamonds  in 214 

export  of  gold,  seven  months, 

1891 214 

population  of,  1890 213 

sugar  products,  1891 214 

Bucaramanaga,   Colombia,   discov- 
ery of  new  mineral  near  ....         48 
Bucaramanaqiiia,  discovery  of  new 

mineral  in  Colombia 48 

Buenos  Aires  and  Great  Southern 
Railway,  Argentine  Repub- 
lic, extension  of,  in  1891 16 

Buenos  Aires,  population,  1891 20 

telegraph  line  to  Valparaiso. . .         39 
wool  exportsten  months,  1890-91  7 

Building  association  established  in 

Mexico  City 150 

Burchard,  Wm.  C,  land  concession 

in  Honduras  to 78 

Bureau  of  the  American  Republics, 
notice  in  Engineering,  Lon- 
don        259 

.  notice  in  South  American  Jour- 
nal         241 

Bull.  41 18 


c. 

Page. 
Cables,     communication     between 
Bermuda  and    British   West 

India  Islands 213 

service  by  Bermuda  and  West 

India  Cable  Company 211 

to  Tierra  del  Fuego 23 

Calderon,  Climaco,  report  of  com- 
merce between  Colombia  and 

United  States 40 

Callao,  Peru,  custom  receipts,  1890.  189 

population  in  1891 189 

Canal,    Barranquilla   to    Sabanilla, 

Colombia 50 

contract  for,  in  Guatemala  ....  73 
Carmen  Island,   Mexico,  develop- 
ment of  salt  mines. 120 

Castries,  census  of,  1891 217 

Cattle  slaughtered  in  Argentine  Re- 
public, 1890 201 

slaughtered  in  Uruguay,  1890.  201 
Cedros  Island,  alleged  gold  depos- 
its in 123 

Ceiba,  Honduras,  new  port  estab- 
lished   79 

Census,  Argentine  Republic,  1891.  20 

population  of  Barbados,  1891 . .  212 

population  of  British  Guiana. .  213 
population   of    Callao,     Peru, 

1891 189 

population  of  Castries,  1891. . .  217 
population  of  Guatemala,  1891.  74 
population  of  Guayaquil,  Ecua- 
dor    71 

population  of  Jamaica,  1891.  . .  215 

population  of  Lima,  Peru,  1891.  192 

population  of  Maracaibo,  1891.  209 
population    of    Nuevo     Leon, 

Mexico 173 

population  of  St.  Lucia,  1891. .  217 
population  of  Salvador,  1891. .  196 
population  of  Trinidad,  1891  . .  217 
population  of  Uruguay,  1891. .  206 
population  of  Windward  Is- 
lands, 1891 219 

Central  America,  photographic  ex- 
hibit for  Chicago  Exposition.  267 
trade  difficulties  with. .    230 


274 


INDEX. 


*  K 


Page. 
Cereals.     (See  Bread  stuffs.) 
Chicago  Exposition.     (See  World's 

Columbian  Exposition.) 
Chihuahua,  Mexico,  industrial  de- 
velopment of 146 

mother-of-pearl  deposits  near.       123 

Chile,  source  of  imports 3° 

telegraph   line,    Valparaiso    to 

Buenos  Aires 39 

Trans-Andine  railway 37 

Chiriqui,  Colombia,  steamship  line 

to  Panama 51 

Climie  Railway  concession,  Nica- 
ragua         175 

Coahuila,   exemption   of  manufac- 
turing  establishments    from 

taxation 118 

Coal,  area  of  Mexican  deposits. . .  .       122 
developments  in  Sonora,  Mexi- 
co        122 

development   of    anthracite 

mines  in  Mexico 121 

discoveries   in   Argentine    Re- 
public          21 

discovery  of,  in  Straits  of  Ma- 
gellan          21 

rewards  for  discoveries  in  Ar- 
gentine Republic 22 

Coatzacoalcos,    Mexico,    improve- 
ment of  harbor 166 

Coffee-culture  in  Costa  Rica 57 

culture  in  Mexico 118 

estates  in  Soconusco,  Mexico  .       119 
estimate  of  Brazil  crop,  1891. .         31 
explorations  in  Peru  for  culti- 
vation of- 190 

exports  of  Costa  Rican 66 

imports  into  the  United  States.       244 
plant,     description     of    Costa 

Rican 58 

Coinage  of  Mexico,  iSgo-'gi 148 

Colima,  Mexico,  electric-light  plant 

established 150 

Colombia,  agricultural  advantages.         45 
boundary  dispute  with  Venezu- 
ela, decided 51 


Page. 
Colombia — Continued. 

canal  between  Barranquilla  and 

Sabanilla 50 

colonies  on  Meta  River 51 

commerce    with     the     United 

States,  1890 40 

construction  of  pier  at  Puerto 

Colombia 49 

discovery  of  new  mineral  Buca- 

ramanaquia 48 

exports  and  imports,  i889-'90.         46 
exportsof  productsto the  United 

States 42 

first  rubber  factory 51 

gold  mines 44 

national  exposition  at  Bogota  .          51 
railroad  between  Carmen  City 

and  Port  Sambrano 50 

railroad  between  Cartagena  and 

Magdalena  River 50 

railroad  between  Medellin  and 

Amaga 49 

railroad  between  Medellin  and 

Magdalena  River 49 

reciprocity  treaty  with  Ecuador.         71 

resources  of 43 

silver  mines 45 

steam   communication  on  Ori- 
noco River 50 

steamship    lines,    Chiriqui    to 

Panama 51 

Colonization,  concession  to  W.  C. 

Burchard  in  Honduras 78 

establishments  on  Meta  River.         51 

German,  in  Peru  192 

Guadeloupe  Island,  Mexico  . .       172 
Hebrew,  in  British  Guiana  . . .       215 

negro,  in  Sonora,  Mexico 173 

on  Meta  River,  Venezuela 208 

selection  of  lands  for  Peruvian.        191 
Swedish,  in  Puebla,  Mexico  . .       173 
Columbus,   Christopher,    proposed 
monument   at    first    landing- 
place,  Honduras 82 

sepulchre  and  monument  to,  in 

1  lavana    227 


INDEX. 


275 


Paga 

Commerce,  bonded  warehouse  reg- 
ulations, Brazil 28 

(See  Foreign  Commerce.) 

Commercial  code,  Mexican 100 

Commercial  exhibit  of  Latin-Amer- 
ican countries  at  World's  Co- 
lumbian Exposition 262 

Communicationbetween  Boliviaand 

Atlantic  Ocean 27 

Consular   invoices,    regulations    in 

Peru 186 

required  in  Brazil 28 

Consuls,  reorganization  of  Brazilian 

service 34 

Corcovado  Railway, Brazil, proposed 
exhibit  at  Chicago  Exposi- 
tion            35 

Cordova  and  Rosario  Railroad,  Ar- 
gentine Republic 16 

Corn,  exports  from  Argentine  Re- 
public for  ten  years 12 

Costa    Rica,    agricultural    products 

of,  1890 54 

archaeological    collections     for 

Chicago  Exposition 56 

census  of  1890,  mode  of.taking.  56 

coffee-culture 57 

contracts  with  foreign  steamers .  55 

de  Troyes,  collection  of  antiqui- 
ties for  Chicago  Exposition  .  56 
exhibit  at  Chicago  Exposition.  56 

increase  in  land  values 54 

imports  in  1890 54 

railroads,  San  Jose  to  Puntare- 

nas 55 

reception  of  United  States  Min- 
ister Shannon 56 

trade  with  United  States 53 

wharf  charges  on  certain  exports 

at  Port  LimOn 55 

Cotton  goods,  increased  manufac- 
ture of,  in  Mexico 100 

Cotton  trade,  exports  from  Great 
Britain  to  Brazil, four  months, 

1891    21 

Credits  given  in  Central  America.  .        230 
Crops,  estimates  of,  Argentine,  1891 .  12 


Page. 
Cuba,  effect  of  reciprocity  arrange- 
ment with  United  States  ....        222 
imports  into  Havana,  1890  ....        223 
imports   into    Havana   for    ten 
months,    1891,    by    principal 

articles 225 

imports  of  American  flour,  Feb- 
ruary, 1892 226 

imports   of    principal    articles, 

five  months,  1891 225 

monument  to  Columbus 227 

shipment  of  pineapples  to  the 

United  States 227 

sugar  statistics  for  ten  years. . .        226 
Custom-house  regulations,  changes 

in  Mexican  internal 117 

Customs  law,  Argentine  Republic, 

^892 5 

Customs  duties  on  firearms  in  Gua- 
temala            74 

on  wheat  and  rice  in  Peru  ....  187 
Peruvian  revenues  from,  1890  .  188 
reduction  of,  on  flour  and  salt 

in  Guatemala 73 

on  lard,  in  Peru 187 

Customs  receipts,  Ecuador,  1890  .  .         71 

E>. 

Debt,  adjustment  of,  Ecuador 70 

consolidation  of  Mexican  pub- 
lic         147 

Peruvian  internal,  1891 189 

Salvador,  1891 194 

Desaguadero    River,     Bolivia,    ex- 
ploration of 26 

Diamonds,  discovery  of,  in  British 

Guiana 214 

explorations  for,  in  Mexico. .  .        122 
Dutch  colonies,  boundary  between 

Dutch  and  French  Guiana  .  .        220 
Duties  on  imports,  additions  to  free 

list,  Bahamas 212 

changes  in  Uruguay,  1891  ....  204 
reductions  of,  in   Cuba,  under 

reciprocity  arrangement  ....       222 
restoration   of  Venezuelan,   on 

corn,  etc 20& 


276 


INDEX. 


Page. 
Ecuador,    adjustment    of     foreign 

debt 70 

census  of  Guayaquil. 71 

class  of  goods  required  in  ....       233 
collection    by    archbishop    for 

Chicago  Exposition 69 

cultivation  of  sugar 70 

customs  receipts,  1890 71 

exposition  at  Quito 68 

good  crops  of,  1890 70 

parcels-post   treaty  with  Great 

Britain 71 

reciprocity  treaty  with  Colom- 
bia          71 

Education,  sale  of  lands  in  Nica- 
ragua to  establish  a  new  col- 
lege        177 

seminary  for  women,  Caracas, 

Venezuela 210 

school    system   Argentine    Re- 
public           18 

Electric  light  established  in  Colima, 

Mexico 150 

Engineering,     London,     notice    of 

Bureau  in 259 

Espirito  Santo,  steamship  line  with 

United  States 33 

Explanatory  note 4 

Export  duties  abolished  in  Ja- 
maica        215 

Exporters,  suggestions  to,  respect- 
ing Central  American  trade. .       232 
Exports.     (See  Foreign  Commerce.) 
Exposition  at  Bogota,  Colombia. . .         51 

at  Quito,  Ecuador 68 

at  Quito,  free  admission  of  ex- 
hibits           69 

Fair,  World's.  {See  World's  Co- 
lumbian Exposition.) 

Falkland  Islands,  condition  of 23 

Fibre    plants,  cultivation   of    sisal 

hemp 235 

cultivation  of  banana 79  j 


Page. 
Finances,  Uruguayan,  i89i-'92  .    .       206 
Firearms,  duty  on,  in  Guatemala..         74 
Fish,  shipment  of  frozen,  from  Ar- 
gentine Republic 17 

Flour,  experiments  in  keeping  Ca- 
nadian, in  Jamaica 216 

importsof  American, into  Cuba, 

February,  1892 226 

reduction   of  duty  of    imports 

into  Guatemala 73 

Foreign  commerce,  Argentine   Re- 
public, agricultural  exports, 

1889-90 11 

Argentine    Republic,    exports 

and  imports,   1890 8 

Argentine      Republic,     three 

months,  i890-'9i 9 

Argentine  Republic,six  months, 

1890-91 9 

Argentine      Republic,       nine 

months,  1891 14 

Argentine    Republic,  wool    ex- 
ports,   Buenos     Ayres,     ten 

months,  i890-'9i 7 

Brazil,  imports  into,  from  Great 

Britain,  four  months,  1891  ..  30 
Colombia,  exports  and  imports, 

1889-90 46 

Costa  Rica,  imports,  1890 54 

Chile,  source  of  imports 36 

Havana,  imports,  1890 223 

Havana,    imports  of   principal 

articles,  five  months,  1891...  225 
Havana,   imports  of    principal 

articles,  ten  months,  1S91.  . .  225 
Honduras,  exports,  i890-'9i..  79 
Mexico, exports  last  six  months, 

1889-90 84,  89 

Mexico, exports  first  six  months, 

1890-91 89 

Mexico,  exports  by  countries, 
last  six  months,  i890-'9i. .. .         96    \ 

Mexico,  exports,  i890-'9i 85 

Mexico,  imports,  1888-89  ....         96 
Paraguay, exports  and  imports, 

1890 179 


INDEX.  277 


Foreign   commerce — Continued. 
Peru,     exports    and     imports, 

fourth  quarter,  1890 

Peru,    exports    of    petroleum, 

1889-90 

Salvador,  exports  and  imports, 

1890 

Salvador,     first     six      months, 

iSgo-'gi 

Uruguay,  1890 

Uruguay,  exports  and  imports 

by  countries,  1890 

Uruguay,  first  six  months,  1891, 
Venezuela,    exports    and     im- 
ports, 1890 

trade  between  Brazil  and  Bel- 
gium  

trade   between    Colombia  and 

United  States 

Free  list,  additions  to  Bahamas. .  . . 

additions  to  Mexican 

Free  zone,  article  on  Mexican 

provisions  of  law  respecting.. . 
Freight  charges,  United   States    to 

Peru 

French    colonies,    sanitary   regula- 
tions, Martinique 

French  Guiana,  boundary  between 

Dutch  Guiana  and,  settled. . 

Fruit,  cultivation  of,  in  Honduras. 

G. 

Gas,  discoveries  of  natural,  in  Ar- 
gentine Republic 

General  commercial  information. . . 

Germany,  immigration  to  Peru. . . . 

Gold  coinage  in  Mexico,  iSgo-'gi.. 

deposits  on  Cedros  Island  .... 

exports   from    British   Guiana, 

seven  months,  1891 

mines  of,  in  Colombia 

production    of    Venezuelan 

mines,  1889 

Great  Britain,  exports  to  Brazil, four 
months,  1891 


Page. 

188 

186 

194 

197 
200 

202 
203 

207 
30 

40 
212 
117 
101 
105 

.    187 


220 

77 


22 
230 
192 
148 
123 

214 
44 

207 
30 


Page. 
Great    Britain,    exports    of    cotton 
goods  to  Brazil,  four  months, 

1891 31. 

influence  of  the  United  States 

on  South  American  trade  of.       239 

new  steamship  lines  for  South 

American  trade. 191 

organization  of  companies  for 

Peruvian  investments 188 

parcels-post  treaty  with  Ecua- 
dor           71 

Grape  vines,  purchase  by  Brazil  from 

United  States 32 

Guadelupe    Island,  Mexico,    colo- 
nization of 1 72 

Guatemala,  canal  on  east  coast.  ...         73 

census  of,  1891, 74 

contract   for  mail  service  with 

New  Orleans 73 

contract  with  Kosmos  line    of 

steamers 72 

duty  on  firearms 74 

reduction  of  duty  on  flour  and 

salt 73 

transportation  facilities 72 

Guayaquil,  Ecuador,  population  in 

1891 71 

Guerrero,  Mexico,  quicksilver  dis- 
coveries in 122 

M. 

Haiti,  port  charges 75 

Havana.    {See  Cuba.) 

Hebrew  colonization  in  Argentine 

Republic 22 

in  British  Guiana 215 

Henequen,  export  from,  Mexico.  . .        120 
Highest    inhabited     place     in     the 

world 192 . 

Hirsch,     Baron,    establishment     of 

Hebrew  colonies   in   British 

Guiana,  by 215 

purchases  of  land  in  Argentine 

Republic  by 22 

Honduras,  aid  to  steamship  line  to 

New  Orleans 82 


278 


INDEX. 


Honduras — Continued. 

colonization  concession  to  W. 
C.  Burchard 

cultivation  of  fruit  in 

exports  i8go-'9i 

increase  in  banana  exports.  . .  . 

land  concession  to  E.  W.  Perry. 

mineral  resources 

mining  bureau  established  .... 

narrow-gauge  railway,  Teguci- 
galpa to  the  Pacific 

port  of  Ceiba  established 

proposed  monument  where  Co- 
lumbus first  landed 

railway  concession  in  Mosqui- 
tia 

telephonic  communication  with 
Salvador 

transportation  concessions  .... 

use  of  banana  fiber. .' 

Horses,  shipments  from  Argentine 

Republic 

Hotel  concession,  Mexican  City.. . 
Hungary,  steamship  line  with  Brazil 

I. 


Page. 


78 
77 
79 
78 
81 
80 
80 

81 
79 

82 
80 

198 

82 
79 

13 
149 

33 


Ice,    manufacture    of     artificial,    in 

British  West  Indies 213 

Illinois  Central  Railroad,  report  on 
trade  opportunities  by  com- 
missioners of 245 

Immigration,  establishment  of  of- 
fices for  Venezulan,  in  Eu- 
rope  

into  Argentine  Republic 

land  grants   to    encourage,    in 

N  icaragua 

new  Venezuelan  law 

Import  duties,  changes  in  Mexican, 

on  paper 

Mexico,  additions  to  free  list.  . 

Imports.     (See  Foreign  Commerce.) 

Iron  chains  exports  frorn  the  United 
States  to  Brazil 

Intercontinental  Railway,  synopsis 

of  proposed  survey 257 


210 
6 

177 
208 

118 
"7 


244 


Page. 

Invoices,  Salvador  regulations  ....  196 
regulations    for    exports   from 
Salvador,    requirements    for 

consular 197 

Brazil 28 

regulations,  Peru 186 


Jamaica,  culture  of  sisal  hemp.  . .  .       235 
establishment  of    new   line    of 

steamers  from  New  York  to.        215 
experiments  in  keeping  Cana- 
dian flour 216 

export  duties  abolished 215 

population  of,  1891 215 

representation  at  Chicago  Ex- 
position         216 

savings  banks  in 216 

Jewish  colonization  in  British  Gui- 
ana        215 

Jewish  settlements  in  Argentine  Re- 
public     22-23 

K. 
Kosmos   Steamship   Line,   contract 

with  Guatemala 72 

contract  with  Salvador 197 


Labor,  wages  in  Mexico 125 

Lamport  and  Holt   steamship  line, 
extension  of  service  to  west 

coast  of  South  America 257 

Lands,    concession    to  E.  W.  Perry 

in  Honduras 81 

concession  to  W.  C.  Burchard 

in  Honduras 78 

grants  of  public,  in  Nicaragua, 

to   encourage  immigration..        177 
increase  in  values,  Costa  Rica.          54 
measurement  in  Argentine  Re- 
public           14 

sale  of  national,  in  Mexico.  ...        172 
Latin-American  reading  room,  pro- 
posed, at  Chicago  Exposition       267 
Lead,  increase    in  smelting    indus- 
try, Mexico 123 


INDEX. 


279 


Page,    i 

Leeward   Islands,  opportunities  for 

American  trade 217 

representation  at   Chicago   Ex- 
position         217 

Lima,  Peru,  population  of,  1891 192 

Locomotives,  export   of,  from    Uni- 
ted States  to  Brazil 33 

M. 

Madeira  River,  navigation  of 26 

Magellan,  Straits    of,  discovery  of 

coal  in 21 

Mails.     {See  Postal  Service.) 

Manufacturies,  Chihuahua,  Mexico.       146 

Manufacturing     establishments    of 

Monterey,  Mexico 145 

Maracaibo,  Venezuela,    population 

of,  1891 209 

Martinique,  sanitary  regulations...       221 

Meta    River,   Colombia,    establish- 
ment of  colonies  on 51,  208 

Mexican     Southern     Railway,  his- 
tory of 150 

Mexico,    Cuernavaca    and    Pacific 

Railway,  description  of 164 

Mexico,  additions  to  free  list 117 

analysis   of  export  trade,  1890- 

'91 • 93 

analysis    of  trade  with  United 

States 98 

building    association,     Mexico 

City 150 

.    census  of  Nuevo  Leon 173 

changes    in    import     duty    on 

paper 118 

changes    in     internal    customs 

regulations 117 

coal  beds,  area  of 122 

coal  deposits  in  Sonora 122 

coal  fields,  anthracite 121 

coffee  raising 118 

coinage,  iSgo-'gi 148 

colonization      of      Guadeloupe 

Islands 172 

concession  for  hotel  in  Mexico 

City 149 

consolidation  of  national  debt.  147 


Page. 
Mexico — Continued. 

cultivation   of    fiber   plants   in 

Nuevo  Leon 120 

description  of  federal  tele- 
graphs         167 

description  of  free  zone 101 

description  of  Mexico,  Cuerna- 
vaca and  Pacific  Railway. . .        164 
detailed  statement  of  railroads 

in  1892 158 

development  of  salt  mines 120 

discoveries  of  quicksilver 123 

electric  light  in  Colima 150 

International  Banking  and 
Guaranty  Company  estab- 
lished          149 

exemption  of  cotton  manufac- 
tures   in    Tamaulipas    from 

taxes 146 

exemption  of  taxes  on   manjj- 

factur.es  in  Coahuila 118 

export  of  henequen 120 

exports  of  tobacco,  1891 120 

exports  by  articles,  1 890-'9i. . .  87  ^ 
exports  by  countries,  iSgo-'gi.  86  * 
exports     by     custom  -  houses, 

i8go-'9i 85 

exports  by  custom-houses,  last 

six  months,  1890 89 

exports,  first  six  months,  1891, 

by  countries 96 

exports, last  six  months,  i889-'90        84  *— 

extent  of  railway  lines 150 

gold  deposits,  Cedros  Island. .  123 
growth  of  State  of  Monterey  . .  124 
history   of    Mexican    Southern 

Railway 150 

imports  for  1888-89 96  'N 

increased    exportation    to    the 

United  States 98 

increased  manufacture  of  cot-  ' 

ton  goods 100 

industrial  development  of  Chi- 
huahua.        146 

industrial  development  of  Mon- 
terey         145 


28o 


INDEX. 


Page. 
Mexico — Continued. 

labor  in  textile  factories 146 

lead-smelting  industry 123 

mineral  development 120 

mother-of-pearl  deposits 123 

negro  colony  in  Sonora 173 

new  commercial  code 100 

J               new  steamship  line 170 

orange  culture 120 

plan   for   abolition  of   internal 

customs  duties 116 

postal  statistics 148 

President   authorized   to    alter 

concessions,  etc 149 

prices  of  certain  commodities.  136 

prices  of  corn  in 145 

— ■  proposed    railway,   Matamoros 

to  Guatemala 171 

railway  concessions  forfeited. .  166 
railway   concession,    Mexico 

W\V              City  to  Pacific  Coast 165 

railway  development 170 

railway,  Torreon  to  Durango. .  170 

•            revenue  returns,  1887-1892.  . .  .  147 
t          revision  of  State  and  municipal 

taxation 115 

sale  of  national  lands 172 

sample  room   for  native  prod- 
ucts in  London,  Havre,  and 

New  York 150 

search  for  diamond  fields  .....  122 

Soconusco  coffee  estates 119 

steamship     concession     from 

Philadelphia 171- 

steamship    line,    Tampico   to 

Mobile,  Ala 166 

Swedish    colonization   in    Pu- 

ebla 173 

-*-      Y     Tampico  Harbor  improvements  167 

mm    ^       Tehuantepcc  improvements. . .  166 

Topolobampo  colony 173 

training  ship  for  apprentices  . .  149 
m^t      «i      views  on  Mexican  Central  Rail- 
road for  Chicago  Exposition.  171 
wages  in 125 


Page. 
Minerals,    development     of     lead- 
smelting  industry  in  Mexico.        123 
discovery  of  new,  in  Colombia.         48 
Mines,  production   of   Venezuelan 

gold,  1889 207 

Mining,  bureau  of,  established   in 

Honduras 80 

in  Peru 190 

in  Salvador 197 

Missionary  exhibit  from  South 
America  to  Chicago  Expo- 
sition        267 

Mobile,    United    States,   steamship 

line  to  Tampico,  Mexico  ....       166 
Monterey,   Mexico,    industrial    de- 
velopment of 124 

manufacturing    establishments 

in 145 

Montevideo,    customs  receipts    at, 

1890. .    201 

modification  of  port  charges. . .       205 
Mother-of-pearl  deposits  in  Mexico.       123 
Museum,    establishment   of  Vene- 
zuelan, for  antiquities 209 

Mutton,   shipment  of   frozen,  from 

Argentine  Republic 13 

N. 

New  Orleans,  contract  for  mail  serv- 
ice from  Guatemala 73 

steamship  communication  with 

Honduras 82 

Nicaragua,  extension  of  railroads. .  174 

lands  donated  to  immigrants. .  177 

railway  concessions 175 

sale  of  public  lands  for  a  new 

college 177 

telegraphic  concession 177 

Nuevo  Leon,  Mexico,  cultivation  of 

fiber  plants  in 120 

population  of 173 

O. 

Oil,  petroleum  deposits  in  Peru. . .  185 

Oranges,  exports  from  Paraguay..  179 

culture  of,  in  Mexico   120 


INDEX. 


28! 


Page. 
Orinoco  River,  steamship  lines  on.  50 
Venezuelan  contract  for  navi- 
gation of  upper * 208 

Pacific,    railway    concession    from 

Mexico  City  to 165 

Panama  sample  room 239 

steamship  line  to  Chiriqui,  Co- 
lombia      51 

Paper,  Mexican  duty  on 118 

Paraguay    Central    Railway,   open- 
ing of  first  100  kilometers. . .  183 
Paraguay,  concession  for  Asuncion 

and  Santos  Railroad 183 

exports  and  imports,  1890 179 

exportation  of  oranges 179 

Government    balance    sheet, 

1890 180 

industrial  condition 181 

opening  of    Paraguay    Central 

Railway 182 

opportunities     for     American 

goods 181 

railway  to  Brazilian  frontier...  183 
Parcels-post   treaty,    Ecuador    and 

Great  Bntain 71 

Pastoral  products,  value  of,  Argen- 
tine Republic,  1891 13 

Patagonia,  explorations  for  miner- 
als   21 

extension  of  railroads  to 16 

Peralta,  Federico,  article  on  coffee 

culture 57 

Peru,    archaeological    and   mineral- 

ogical   survey  of 193 

alcohol  tax 190 

census  of  Callao,  1891 189 

census  of  Lima,  1891 192 

class  of  goods  required  in 233 

colonization  by  Peruvian  cor- 
poration    191 

condition  of  internal  debt 189 

custom  receipts  of  Callao,  1890.  189 

dispatch  of  vessels  from  ports.  193 

duties  on  wheat  and  rice   . .      .  187 


Page. 
Peru — Continued. 

duty  on  lard 187 

experiments  in  coffee  culture..        190 
exports    and    imports,     fourth 

quarter,  1890 •..        188 

exports  of  petroleum,  1889-90.        186 
freight   charges    from     United 

States 187 

German  immigration 192 

highest  inhabited  place  in  the 

world 192 

mining  resources <  190 

new  British  steamships  for. . .  .        191 
organization  of  English    com- 
panies.         188 

petroleum  development  in.  . .  .        185 
regulations    for    consular     in- 
voices         186 

regulations  for  marking  pack- 
ages         187 

revenues,  1890 188 

use  of  petroleum  as  fuel 186 

Peruvian  corporation,   selection  of 

land  for  colonization  by 191 

Petroleum,     exports     from     Peru,  1 

1889-90 186 

use  of,  as  fuel  on  Oroya  Railway       186 

development  of,  in  Peru 185 

Philadelphia,  export  of  locomotives 

to  Brazil 33 

Phosphate  deposit,  discovery  of,  in 

Trinidad 217 

Photographs,  exhibition  of  Central 
American  views  for  Chicago 

Exposition 267 

Pineapples,  shipments  from  Qubato 

United  States •.  . . .       227 

Porch  &  Co.,  steamship  concession, 

Philadelphia  to  Mexico 171 

Port  charges,  Haiti 75 

modification  of  Uruguayan.  . .  .       205 
Port    Limon,     Josta    Rica,    wharf 

charges  on  certain  products  .  55 

Port  of  Spain,  establishment  of  hotel 

at 218 


282 


INDEX. 


Paga 
Postal  service,  contract  for,  between 

Guatemala  and  New  Orleans.         73 
contract  of  Guatemala  for  Euro- 
pean           72 

Mexiean  statistics 148 

President  of  United  States  to  decide 
dispute    between    Argentine 

Republic  and  Brazil 33 

Public  schools.     (See  Schools.) 
Puebla,   Mexico,    Swedish    colony 

in 173 

Puerto,  Colombia,   construction  of 

ocean  pier  at. . .    49 

Puerto  Rico,  representation  at  Chi- 
cago Exposition 227 

Q. 

Quicksilver,  Mexican  mines  of 123 

Quito,  Ecuador,  Exposition 68 

free  admission  of  exhibits 69 

re. 

Railroad  commission  in  Argentine" 

Republic 15 

description  of  Mexico  and  Cu- 

ernavaca  and  Pacific 164 

detailed    description  of   Mexi- 
can         158 

development  of  Mexican 170 

description  of  Transandine  ...         37 

extension  of,  in  Nicaragua.  . .  .        174 

extensions  to  Patagonia 16 

^        extent  of  Mexican  lines 150 

freight  concessions  for  transpor- 
tation to  Chicago  Exposition.       264 

from   Asuncion,   Paraguay,    to 

Brazilian  frontier 183 

from    Asuncion,    Paraguay,  to 

Santos,  Brazil 183 

from  Cartagena  to   Magdalena 

River,  <  'olombia 50 

from  Carmen  (  itv  to  Port  Sam- 
brano, ( 'olombia 50 

from   Mtatamoroff,     Mexico,    to 

Guatemala  171 

from   Mcdcllin  t<»  Amaga,  Co- 
lombia           49 


Paga 
Railroad — Continued. 

from    Medellin    to    Magdalena 

River,  Colombia 49 

from  Puerto CabellotoGuanare, 

Venezuela 208 

from  San  Salvador    to    Tocla, 

Salvador 197 

from  San  Jos6    to  Puntarenas, 

Costa  Rica 55 

from     Torreon      to     Durango, 

Mexico 170 

history  of  Mexican  Southern  . .        150 
inArgentineRepublic, 1889-90.  15 
in  operation,  Argentine  Repub- 
lic, 1891 17 

in  Santa  Fe,  Argentine  Repub- 
lic           17 

Mexican  concessions  forfeited.       166 
narrow-gauge,  in  Argentine  Re- 
public          16 

narrow-gauge,  in  Honduras.  ...         81 
opening   of    Paraguay   Central 

Railway 183 

proposed  intercontinental 257 

reduction  of  guarantees  to,  in 

Uruguay 206 

use  of  petroleum  as  fuel  in  Peru       186 
Railway  concessions  from  La  Paz 

to  Lake  Titicaca,  Bolivia. ...         26 
from  Oruro  to  Amazon   River, 

Bolivia 26 

in  Mosquitia,  Honduras 80 

Mexico  City  to  Pacific  Coast. .       165     «< 

•  applied  for  in  Bolivia 25 

in  Nicaragua 175 

for    transportation  to  Chicago 

Exposition 264 

Ramiriz  railway  concession,  Ni- 
caragua         175 

Reading  room,  Latin-American,  at 
World's  Columbian  Exposi- 
tion         267 

Reciprocity    treaty,  Colombia  and, 

Ecuador 71 

Refrigerator  steamers  between  New 
York  .iml  British  Weil  India 
colonies 213 


INDEX. 


283 


Resources  of  Colombia 

Revenues,  statement  of  Mexican  .  . 
Romero,   Hon.   Matias,  articles    on 

wages  in  Mexico,  by 

article    on    "Free    Zone"    in 

Mexico,  by 

Rubber,   establishment  of    factory 

in  Colombia ». 

S. 
Sabanilla,  canal  to  Barranquilla,  Co- 
lombia   

St.  Lucia,  population  of,  1891 

Salt,    development   of  mines,  Car- 
men Island,  Mexico 

reduction   of  duty  on   imports 

into  Guatemala 

Salvador,    concession  for  Bank  of 

Central  America 

concession    for    railroad,     San 
Salvador  to  Santa  Tocla  .... 
contract  with  Kosmos    Steam- 
ship Line 

denial      of      sensational      dis- 
patches  

export  invoices 

exDorts  and  imports,  1890 

exports  and  imports,    first  six 

months,  i8go-'9i 

government  revenues,  1890  . . . 

mines  in  operation 

population,  1891 

public  debt,  January,  1891 

public  monument 

receipts  and  expenditures,  first 

half,  1891 

requirements  of  invoices 

telephonic  communication  with 

Honduras 

Sample  room,    establishment  of,  at 

Panama 

for  Mexican  products,  London, 

Havre,  and  New  York 

San  Bias  Bay,  Argentine  Republic, 

silver  deposits  in 

Sanitary    regulations,    Martinique, 
West  Indies 


Page. 

43 

147 

125 


51 

50 
217 

120 

73 

198 

197 

197 

198 
197 
194 

197 
194 
197 
196 
194 


196 
196 


23Q 

150 

21 


iS 


Page. 
Sante     Fe,     Argentine     Republic, 

growth  of  agriculture 10 

railroads  in 17 

Savings  banks  in  Jamaica 216 

Schools,   system   in    Argentine  Re- 
public  

Shannon,    Richards   Cutts,    United 
States  minister,  reception  in 

Costa  Rica 

Shipping,  consular  invoices  in  Bra- 
zil   

consular  invoices  in  Peru 

contract    of     Guatemala    with 

Kosmos  line 

contracts  with  lines, Costa  Rica, 
dispatch    of    vessels   on    feast 

days  in  Peruvian  ports 193 

in  Uruguayan  ports,  1889 201 

new  British  line  to  Peru 191 

regulations  for  marking  pack- 
ages in  Peru 

sanitary    regulations,     Martin- 
ique   

steamers  entered    into  Argen- 
tine Republic  ports,  1890 

training  ship  for  Mexican  boys. 

Silver  coinage  in  Mexico,  i8go-'9i. 
deposits  in   San   Bias  Bay,  Ar- 
gentine Republic 

mines  of  Colombia 

Sisal-hemp  culture 235 

Sonora,  Mexico,  exploration  of  coal 

deposits 122 

negro  colony  in 173 

South  America,  class   of  goods   re- 
quired in 233 

extension    of    steamship    com- 
munication from   Europe  to 

west  coast 

South  American  trade,  suggestions 

for  increasing 

United  States  and 239 

Spanish     colonies,  commercial    in- 
formation         222 

(See  Cuba  and  Puerto  Rico.) 


S7 


24 
149 

148 

21 

45 


257 


232 


284 


INDEX. 


~ ./ 


~    > 


Page. 
Steamship    communication    among 

Bahama  Islands 212 

between  New  York  and  Trini- 
dad         217 

between  Windward  Islands  and 

United  States. 218 

concession,      Philadelphia     to 

Mexico 171 

construction  of  small  steamers 
for    service     among    British 

West  India  colonies 211 

contract     with     Salvador     and 

Kosmos  Line 197 

line    between    Espirito    Santo, 

Brazil,  and  the  United  States.         33 
line     between     Hungary     and 

Brazil 33 

Mobile   to  Tampico,  Mexico. .       166 
new  line   from  New  York   to 

Jamaica 215 

new  lines  to  West  Indies 211 

Panama  toChiriqui,  Colombia.         51 
Steamship  companies,  concessions 
for  transportation  to  Chicago 

Exposition 264 

Steamship  lines,  Mexican 170 

on  Orinoco  River 50 

Steamships,  entries    in    Argentine 

Republic  ports,   1890 24 

Strong  and  Thornton,  railway  con- 
cession, Nicaragua 175 

Subsidies     to     steampship     lines, 

British  West  Indies 211 

Sugar,  increased  cultivation  of,  in 

Ecuador 70 

production  in  British  Guiana, 

1891 214 

production  of,  in  Argentine  Re- 
public          13 

statistics  of    Cuban    products 

for  ten  years 226 

Survey,  archxological  and  mineral- 

ogical,  of   I'<-rii 193 

Tamaulij  as,   exemption    of    cotton 

manufactories  from  taxation.        146 


Page. 
Tampico    Mexico,  harbor  improve- 
ments at 167 

steamship  line  to  Mobile 166 

Taxation,    proposed     abolition     of 
Mexican     internal     customs 

duties 116 

revision  of  Mexican,  state  and 

municipal 115 

Tehuantepec,   construction  of  rail- 
way and  harbor 166 

Telegraph.     (See  also  Cables.) 

concession  in  Nicaragua 177 

from    Valparaiso     to     Buenos 

Ayres  .......  ^ 39 

history  of  Mexican  system 167 

Mexican  charges 169 

Telephones,     communication     be- 
tween Hondurasand  Salvador       198 
Tierra     del     Fuego,     cable     from 

Argentine  Republic 23 

settlement  of 23 

Tobacco,  Mexican  exports,  1891...  120 
Topolobampo  colony,  Mexico....  173 
Trade,  analysis  of,  between  United 

States  and  Mexico 98 

analysis   of    Mexican     export, 

i890-'9i 93 

class     of     goods    required    in 

South  America 233 

opportunities      for      American 

goods  in  Paraguay 181 

opportunities  for  American,  in 

Leeward  Islands 217 

opportunities  in    Brazil 32 

opportunities    in    Central  and 

South  America 245 

requirements  in  Central  Amer- 
ica        230 

source  of  imports  of  Chile.  ...         36 
suggestion  for  increasing  South 

American 232 

suggestions     to     exporters    to 

Central  America 232 

United   States  goods  in  Costa 
Rica 53 


INDEX. 


285 


Training  ship  for  boys  in  Mexico. . 

Transandine    Railway,  Chile 

Transportation,  concessions  in 
Honduras 

contract  of  Guatemala  with 
Kosmos  line 

extension  of  steamship  service 
to  west  coast  of  South  Amer- 
ica   

facilities  in  Bolivia,  1891 

new  roads  in  Bolivia 

steamers    on    Upper    Orinoco 

River  

Trinidad,  contract  for  steamship 
service  

establishment  of  hotel  at  Port 
of  Spain 

discovery  of  phosphates  in.  . . . 

dtying  bananas  for  shipment. . 

population  of,  1891 

representation  at  Chicago  Ex- 
position   

u. 

United  States,  analysis  of  trade 
with  Mexico 

coffee  importations 

commerce  with  Colombia,  1890 

effect  of  reciprocity  arrange- 
ment with  Cuba 

exports  of  locomotives  to  Brazil 

increased  importation  from 
Mexico 

opportunities  for  American 
goods  in   Paraguay 

purchase  of  grape  vines  by 
Brazil 

steamship  line  with  Espirito 
Santo,  Brazil 

trade  with  Costa  Rica 

trade  with  South  America 

Uruguay,  customs  receipts,  1890. . . 

estimates  for  1891-92 

exports  and  imports  by  coun- 
tries, 1890 


Page. 
149 

37 

82 
72 


257 
25 
25 

208 

217 

218 
217 
237 
217 

218 


98 

244 
40 

222 

33 


181 

32 

33 

53 

239 

201 

206 


Page. 
Uruguay,  exports  and  imports,  first 

six  months,  1891 203 

exports  and  imports,  1890....  200 

modification  of  port  charges. . .  205 
number   of  cattle  slaughtered, 

1890 201 

population  of,  1891 206 

reduction      of     railway     guar- 
antees    206 

revenues,  1890 202 

shipping  in  ports  of 201 

tariff  changes,  1891 204 


v. 

Valparaiso,  telegraph  line  to  Bue- 
nos Aires 

Venezuela,  appointment  of  consul 
at  Philadelphia 

colonization  on  Meta  River  . . . 

commercial  returns  for  1890. . 

duty  on  red  wines 

establishment  of  boundary  with 
Colombia 

establishment  of  immigration 
offices 

exports  and  imports,  1890 

national  museum  of  antiquities 
established 

navigation  on  Upper  Orinoco 
River  

new  immigration  law 

number  of  animals,  1890 

population  of  Maraoaibo 

production  of  gold  fields,  1889. 

railway  concession  from  Puerto 
Cabello  to  Guanare 

restoration  of  duty  on  corn,  etc. 

seminary  for  women  established 
at  Caracas 


39 

210 
208 
207 
210 

5i 

210 

207 

209 

208 
208 
207 
209 
207 

208 
208 

210 


w. 


Wages  in  Mexico 125 

Walden,  Bishop,  on  Argentine  Re- 
public school  system 18 


286 


INDEX. 


Page. 
Wharf  charges,   certain,   abolished 

at  Port  Limon,  Costa  Rica. .         55 
Wheat,  exports  from  Argentine  Re- 
public for  ten  years 12 

Windward  islands,  census  of,  1891.       219 
steamship  communication  with 

the  United  States 218 

Wine  industry   in  Brazil 32 

Wines,  tariff  on  red,  Venezuela  . . .       210 
Wool      exports     from     Argentine 

Republic,  1888-90 7 

World's  Columbian  Exposition,  ar- 
chaeological  collection   from 

Costa  Rica 56 

collection     of     archbishop     of 

Ecuador 69 

concessions  for  transportations 

to 264 

Costa  Rican  exhibit 56 

de  Troyes's  collection  of  Costa 

Rican  antiquities 56 

exhibit    of     Corcovado     Rail- 
road           35 

Latin-American   reading  room 

proposed 267 


Page. 
World's    Columbian    Exposition — 
Continued, 
photographic  exhibit  from  Cen- 
tral America 267 

proposed  commercial  exhibit. .  262 
proposed  missionary  exhibit  . .  267 
representation  of  Argentine  Re- 
public    23 

representation  of  Bolivia 27 

representation  of  Brazil .'.  34 

representation  of  Jamaica 216 

representation    of  Leeward  is- 
lands    217 

representation  of   Puerto  Rico  227 
representation  of  Trinidad  ....  218 
views  on  Mexican  Central  Rail- 
road for 171 

Y 

Yucatan,  Mexico,  export  of,  hene- 

quen ,. . .        120 

Z 

Zona  libre,  description  of  Mexican.        101 


0 


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J 


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I 


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